NL DIVISION SERIES: CUBS VS BREWERS

October 9, 2025

Carson Kelly

Wrigley Field

Chicago Cubs

Pregame 4 Press Conference

Q. Carson, I'm curious just how much you go over Game 1 with Matthew Boyd, if there's anything that you can take and learn from that and just sort of maybe the impact of evaluating that game going into tonight?

CARSON KELLY: Yeah, I think it's huge. Talking with Matt and Tommy and everybody in our group, see the things that they do against Matt. You take the last couple starts, you look at what we did well, what we didn't do so well and come up with another game plan.

And then also there's always -- you always have more than just one game plan as well, and making those adjustments in game.

So communication is going to be huge today. I'm really excited to see the adjustment Matt is going to make.

Q. You've been catching Matt all year. What has it been like to catch him, and what sort of confidence does he give you guys as a team every time he goes out there?

CARSON KELLY: I think the thing I love about Matt is the adjustments that he makes in between starts. He's a really good evaluator on his last start, whether it was good, bad, whatever happened.

He's able to take the things he did really well, praise himself for that, and then also take in the things that he didn't do so well and make those adjustments.

That's what I love about Matt is he's always prepared, always in the moment. This is a big game for us, and I'm excited to see him out there.

Q. Carson, this Brewers lineup isn't one that's known for having a lot of slug or anything. But when you look at team approach and the way they've attacked these games, what does make them so difficult?

CARSON KELLY: They work counts. They make your pitchers work and they make the defense work. They've been doing it all year. They're a really good team.

They make our guys work, and it makes my job hard. You're thinking about certain pitches and how we get these guys out. I think that's what's made them so successful over the course of the year.

It's going to be a good battle tonight.

Q. As you game plan for tonight with Matt, how do you balance relying on what Matt's strengths are in terms of the pitches and everything versus the idea of familiarity and everything that -- they're so familiar with Matt at this point and the rest of the pitchers. How do you balance playing to their strengths versus doing something disruptive that they don't expect?

CARSON KELLY: Yeah, I think it goes back on the communication and seeing what certain pitches are getting results and what we need to make an adjustment on.

I think that's what we do really well is making those in-game adjustments, and Matt has been pitching in big games for a long time. I think that's something that's really going to come to our advantage tonight.

Q. How would you describe what it's been like with the reliever group and seeing some performances last night where like Palencia put the rough outing out behind him and came back, or Keller was talking about how he learned from Game 3 of the Wild Card? What stands out to you about that group and the way that they've responded in this postseason and this series in particular?

CARSON KELLY: I think what we do well as a group is, again, like I've said before, taking what we did those previous outings and talking about it and talking about the good and the bad and being honest with each other and then making those adjustments.

We have a lot of trust in those guys, and they stepped up huge the last couple days. I think that's what -- that's a big part of this group is those guys able to come up and clean up innings.

You're seeing some things guys haven't done all year, multiples for some guys, and I think that is what makes this group special is being able to adjust and being able to bend like that.

Q. There was a lot of uncertainty who was getting on the mound for today's game. What was the first thing you and Matt talked about or said to each other after you knew he was the starter for this game?

CARSON KELLY: When he was the starter for this game? Oh, man, I think it was actually more of after the first game. We were like, oh, we're going to do everything we can to get you another opportunity.

I think Matt really thrives on that, just getting the opportunity. That's all we ask for is getting the opportunity and getting the chance to go back out there.

Just seeing Matt earlier today, he's really excited. He's focused. It's going to be a lot of fun tonight.