NL DIVISION SERIES: CUBS VS BREWERS

October 11, 2025

Sal Frelick

Andrew Vaughn

American Family Field

Milwaukee Brewers

Pregame 5 Press Conference

Q. Sal, you hit the homer in the winner-take-all game against the Mets last year. From your experience last year, what does it take to maintain your poise, maintain your composure and not get caught up in the environment in these winner-take-all type of games?

SAL FRELICK: A lot of emotion, obviously. This is kind of what you dream of Game 5s, Game 7s, stuff like that. I don't think it's the worst thing ever to feed off the emotion and feed off the crowd, especially playing at home.

You're right, at the same time you want to do your job and stay focused and that's important. But, yeah, should be a good environment.

Q. One of the things you guys and Murph said a lot was, you guys were good in the regular season when you play free. How do you play free in a game like this after the last two games went the way they did?

ANDREW VAUGHN: I think for us, coming back home, those two games didn't go our way, obviously. But we're going to have the crowd behind us. And like you said, just go play free. Baseball is a game, but gotta go out there and have fun with it.

Q. Because of the crowd factor, how important do you think it is just to get that early lead, to get the crowd into it and even relax you guys?

SAL FRELICK: Yeah, I mean, playing at home is awesome. Like I said, get to have the home crowd behind us. Beat at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised at some point we'll get punched in the face. We'll punch them in the face. That's how these games go.

It's not like trying to avoid getting punched; it's how do you respond from that. They're a great team over there as we've seen. It's really going to be about how can you respond, not necessarily trying to avoid something like that.

Q. Sal, from a year ago, when you look at the way that that game was, 0-0, it was so tight, did you learn anything about your pitchers, about your staff? What it was like to play defense in that 0-0 game? Is there an emotion, is there a focus you learn from a game like that?

SAL FRELICK: Yeah, I mean, it's not even a game -- we've played tight games during the year, too, that can get pretty intense in those ball games. I think, especially our ballclub, just always preaching defense and pitching over the past few years.

That's kind of our comfort zone, I think, when we're in those situations, those close ones where we're just rolling out guys out of the bullpen. And I could hand pick one and feel 100 percent confident in that guy throwing up a zero.

Obviously you learn stuff by playing in those close games like that, whether it's a playoff game or just a regular season game, but I think that defense in close games is kind of -- is somewhat of our identity and kind of what we like to enculture our team on.

Q. I was trying to get your perspective, why do you all think this series has been the way it's been with so many of the runs being scored right in the first inning?

ANDREW VAUGHN: I mean, I would just chalk it up to baseball. Sometimes you score early, sometimes you score late. That's definitely been the trend. Our goal is to go out there and score first, score the most.

Q. How does the pregame preparation/meeting from the hitters' side change when the pitching plans are kind of the way they are with the Cubs? We're expecting to see a lot of different arms, a lot of different bullpen arms, and it's not just Boyd or Imanaga, and you've got to plan for all these different options?

SAL FRELICK: I mean, not really. You know, you want to prepare as best as you can, right? At the same time it's a division opponent for us, where we've seen these guys a ton this year. We've seen them a ton the last week.

We're obviously going to touch on, like, we usually do in our normal offensive meeting, just going through anybody who is available to pitch. Just kind of go over some stuff, talk about it.

But at the same time it's like just go out and compete, like, we've faced these guys before.

Q. Sal, being in that wing of the clubhouse near Megill, what can you tell us about being his teammate? And what did you think when you heard it would be him leading the way with your pitching plan tonight?

SAL FRELICK: Yeah, I mean, I found out probably, like, five minutes ago, I guess. So I haven't really dissected it too much.

But kind of like what I said earlier -- they could have picked out of a hat anybody, and I would have had the same feeling, right? Anyone on this team is going to go out there and execute for us.

And couldn't be happier Trevor's getting the ball. We've seen it all year. He's just a dog on the mound. Just go out, let him do his thing, and whatever happens, happens. But we'll have his back defensively regardless, so it should be good.

Q. Murph made a point yesterday to say that everyone was here for workout day. Does that surprise you? And why do you want to be here for a day like that in between a couple of big contests?

SAL FRELICK: One, it was a workout day. So, optional or not, everyone kind of knew it's good to be here. Listen, I just like spending time with these guys.

Any chance I get to come to the ballpark and take batting practice with some of these guys and watch Vaughny hit them off the scoreboard, I'm not going to miss a chance to do that.

It's fun for me. It's not like something that is a burden, by any means. It's enjoyable. I think everyone feels the same way.

Q. Andrew, to think a couple months ago you were in Triple-A with a different organization, and now you're playing in a Game 5, where has all of this journey led you, what have you learned about yourself, about your game, to be prepared to play in a game like this?

ANDREW VAUGHN: You know, it's just being where my feet are. Life can be crazy. Baseball as a profession can be crazy, but really just whittle it down to taking it one pitch at a time, be exactly where my feet are and enjoy every moment of it.

Q. We know Murph can be unpredictable. Does he address to you, does he say anything to the team or you individually before a playoff game, or would you expect it before a playoff game of this magnitude?

SAL FRELICK: Not really. No different than he would address us like during the regular season. There's nothing added. There's nothing he's trying to force on us. He, I think, believes in us and we believe in ourselves. But nothing really, I think, added where we've got to come together and really hold hands and talk about -- that's not us, right? So I think Murph knows that and kind of treats it the same.

Q. I'm curious, did either of you guys watch last night's game, the 15-inning game? What was going through your minds if you did watch it?

ANDREW VAUGHN: I think I made it to the 12th inning and then I went to bed, to be honest with you.

SAL FRELICK: No, I didn't watch it.