NL DIVISION SERIES: DODGERS VS PHILLIES

October 7, 2025

Rob Thomson

Dodger Stadium

Philadelphia Phillies

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Things were hasty last night. Can you go into a little further explanation maybe why you guys wanted Nola to start Game 3 over Ranger?

ROB THOMSON: Well, he's more comfortable with starting, one. You're going to see Ranger tomorrow. I would be shocked if you don't see Ranger tomorrow. So he's more comfortable starting.

The numbers on their lefties are very similar, Ranger versus Nola. And the trust factor -- I have trust in both of them, don't get me wrong. But Nola has pitched in some really big games for us in the last couple of years.

Q. Is this maybe a way of dealing with some of the issues you guys had in the sixth and seventh inning, you start with a starter and maybe your second starter can bridge it better, hypothetically?

ROB THOMSON: No, not necessarily. Not necessarily. I'd regret having either one of those guys not pitch in this series.

Q. How is Harrison doing? Is he in play to start tomorrow?

ROB THOMSON: It's a game-time decision tomorrow. He said he feels a little bit better today. But we haven't been outside to run or anything yet. So we'll figure it out.

Q. Going back to Ranger and Nola, Ranger had a pretty good year overall as a starter, went deep into games. Nola did not. He's got the bad first inning numbers. Do you look at that as a risk at all? I understand like having faith in Nola, but you get behind early and maybe Ranger coming in doesn't matter.

ROB THOMSON: Well, you know, Nola's last couple of starts -- his last start was phenomenal, that's the Nola we've seen. So I'm banking that we're going to get that.

Q. And last night, still looking back at the ninth inning, the bunt play, would you do anything differently there in hindsight?

ROB THOMSON: I just think they made a great play. Mookie Betts did a heck of a job by breaking very late so the hitter can't adjust to the slash. And it's tough for Nick to get a proper secondary or bigger secondary because Betts is sitting right behind him. At the end of the day, they made an aggressive play and they made it work. It was a good play.

Q. In 2017, when you were still with the Yankees, you guys came back down 0-2 in the Division Series, is there anything you remember about that series to maybe help throw a momentum shift; anything you can take away thinking about it right now?

ROB THOMSON: I think it's just one game at a time. That's just the way you have to look at it. You've got to slow things down -- one inning at a time, really, and come out and relax and be yourselves. Don't try to do too much.

Q. Back to Ranger, what's the plan for him? Is it to be in the bullpen right away and be ready as soon as the second inning -- probably won't bring him in the middle but he'll be ready?

ROB THOMSON: Yeah, he'll be out there at the start of the game.

Q. You've seen Mookie Betts a lot, particularly when he was with Boston. You marvel at what he's able to do moving from right field to shortstop, the way he's played the position?

ROB THOMSON: Center field, right field, shortstop, second base, he plays them all. He's an heck of an athlete and a great hitter, obviously. I know he got off to a slow start this year, but he's a very talented individual, really is.

Q. The last eight games or so, Kyle Schwarber has been pretty ineffective. Sometimes teams will gear up to make sure that one guy doesn't hit them. Has he become that guy?

ROB THOMSON: I think they're pitching both him and Harp pretty tough right now. I think their timing's off a little bit right now, again, trying to do a little too much, the swings are a little bit bigger. Gotta slow it down, turn the field around, think left-center. They're still going to pull the ball at times. But just stay on the ball a little bit better.

Q. Could Bader potentially DH and maybe put Schwarber in the outfield just to get his bat in the lineup?

ROB THOMSON: He's still got to run. If he can run, he's going to play center field. We'll keep Schwarb in the DH spot. That's the whole issue here.

Q. Just to go back to Nola a little bit, if he didn't have that last outing against Minnesota where he was so effective, do you think he might be in this position today pitching Game 3?

ROB THOMSON: I'm not really sure. It's kind of a hypothetical. He did pitch well. I'd have to think about that one.

Q. We just talked to Bryce and he was wearing the powder blue; you're wearing the powder blue. Are you guys going to wear the powder blue?

ROB THOMSON: We are. We talked about it 10 days ago. Some of the players came to me, because they like playing in them. So we had to go through a bunch of hoops with Major League Baseball just to get it cleared, just to get it okayed by Major League Baseball that we could wear those on the road. Yeah, they wanted to wear them, so we got it done.

Q. You guys win Game 3, would you stick with it for Game 4, the powder blues?

ROB THOMSON: Oh, yeah. I don't think we brought the gray, so we've got to stick with them. (Laughter).