NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DODGERS VS BREWERS

October 13, 2025

Dave Roberts

American Family Field

Los Angeles Dodgers

Pregame 1 Press Conference

Q. The Brewers are going with a lefty opener potentially for a little bit longer. When you think of Shohei Ohtani, what you saw from him in the DS, him hoping to make just a few adjustments, is there something that will stand out to you that will kind of show, maybe not results-wise, but something clicked and he's getting back on track offensively?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, I think obviously those guys make sense that they're opening with Ashby. I think as far as Shohei, just have a consistent approach.

The Phillies, they pitched him tough. We expect these guys will do the same thing. I think just having a consistent approach in kind of what you're hunting is all what I'm looking for.

That's with all of our players, and kind of have an idea what you're trying to do and not trying to chase your tail, because then you start, you know, being spiky, being predictable and being pitchable.

But I expect good things from Shohei this series.

Q. Pat Murphy has not been shy about describing his team as the underdog in this series. I think he joked today he wasn't sure if most of your players could name eight Brewers. Has this been a concern at all to you just the way these teams are viewed perception-wise, publicly, that you guys are taking them lightly at all?

DAVE ROBERTS: No, not a concern at all. That's just kind of how Murph is. He tries to get into the psyche, and he's telling his team the opposite, right, in the clubhouse, behind closed doors. So we know the act. He's going to have his guys prepared.

But no, we're prepared. We're playing good baseball and we expect the same out of those guys. And all the talk isn't going to really factor in once the game starts.

Q. Teams make a lot of errors against these guys with the way they play. What is it about what they do that kind of leads to that? And how do you guys kind of get your guys prepared to try to avoid some of that defensively?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, I think what it starts with is they give a hard 90. They run hard. They give good effort. They try to be opportunistic on the bases, take the extra base. The batter/runner is always aggressive as a trail runner. And so with that, it puts a little bit more pressure on the defense to be sure-handed, to be a little bit quicker.

So we're certainly prepared for that, and I understand that's how they play. And that's the way you're supposed to play.

Q. What was kind of behind the decision to add Casparius and then remove Rushing from the roster?

DAVE ROBERTS: With the Rushing piece, we felt that Will is in a good spot to feel that we don't need to protect him to have a third catcher.

With Ben, we just felt that having another right-hander to sort of be able to take down a certain part of their lineup, if needed. And Ben was -- pitched in the World Series last year so he's got some experience as well.

Q. With Ben, do you think that not only the minor league stint, but maybe having a little more downtime the past couple of weeks could help him get back to where he was the first couple months of the season?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think so. He's throwing the baseball really well. We've seen it in the lives and started off well. Then he kind of hit a lull towards the end of the season. But going to the minors and working on his delivery, the confidence, all that stuff, he's taken it and run. And he's in a good spot right now.

Q. How do you anticipate using Kershaw this series?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think with Clayton, I feel you can use him against lefties, righties. I would say potentially it's a multi-inning situation. I don't really know the leverage, plus or minus. But he's going to be available for whatever is asked of him.

Q. They opened with their closer in Game 5 against the Cubs. An opener now, you're probably going to see some more openers during this series. How unpredictable are they pitching-wise? And what challenges does that create?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think it's not unpredictable, because I think the strength of this team currently is their pen. So how do they take down as many outs from their pen as possible is probably their MO. It's not unpredictable; we're expecting it.

I do feel that we have a lot of guys on our team that are pretty neutral. So it's going to be hard to set up lanes for them to get sort of match-ups consistently.

So I feel we're equipped to take on anything they throw at us.

Q. You're in the middle of an October where you have a chance to do something that no team has done in 25 years, and that is repeat. What have you learned this year about why that's so hard? And is there anything about your approach to this season that maybe was different from 2021?

DAVE ROBERTS: It's hard because certainly the playoff format doesn't lend itself to just getting into the championship series and getting to the World Series. So that in itself makes it more difficult.

The other part of it that's hard is getting guys to play their best baseball at the right time and to keep guys playing at a high level for 162 to get to the postseason, to then give yourselves a chance to win 11 or, this year, 13 games in October.

What have I learned? I've learned that you've got to kind of give players grace at points during the season to appreciate the human side of it's hard to play every game like it's Game 7 in April, but know when to kind of turn it on.

I do think that in that series in Baltimore, we turned it on from that point on. Even losing that series two out of three to the Orioles, we still turned it on.

Q. Just the roster adjustment, Casparius going in, was it a longer series, getting another arm in --

DAVE ROBERTS: Who?

Q. Casparius?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yes, it's more driven by the seven-game series and going with two catchers versus three.

Q. Since you brought up the Baltimore series, what was it about your message there that you think resonated with this team?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think just giving everyone permission to let go of the prior, call it, five months of the year, the inconsistencies of play, offloading all that stuff, myself included, to then go from that point forward and to play like a team that's going to the postseason and how do we prepare to play like that.

And it's hard to do that when you carrying baggage of recency. And I think we were all guilty of the here-we-go type of thing in all facets of the game.

Q. For Andy Pages, do you think how the NLDS ended, do you think there can be something there to ignite for him to get going this October?

DAVE ROBERTS: I hope so. I hope so. I hope it's a confidence builder for him. Seeing his work, talking to him, he's in a good head space, which I like.

He's been around a long time, as far as the last couple of years, played in playoff games. They're going to attack him with velocity. We'll see. But I do think his confidence is starting to tick up.

Q. You got through the postseason last year with the rotation pretty much on fumes there at the end. Just how reinforcing is it for you right now to have the number of options you have lined up?

DAVE ROBERTS: It's huge. It's a completely different construction as far as the pitching. And it's a good thing when your best arms in each particular game are going to take down the most outs. That's where we're at right now, this year, where last year knowing that your starter wasn't going to take down the most outs in most cases, tougher to navigate.

So this is a much better situation. But we've got to go out there and play well, too.

Q. How much did getting Blake Snell last winter play into that and adding to that depth?

DAVE ROBERTS: It was great. He's a bona fide ace. Having him take the ball, feeling that he's always essentially going to be the best option on the mound. And obviously with Yoshinobu, what he's done this year for us, taking another step forward for us. And having Tyler come back and pitch the way he has has been huge, obviously, yeah.

Q. Just a follow-up to that, this is obviously kind of the culmination of a season-long plan with these pitchers. Could it have worked out any better in this moment, having them where they are? Did this plan start in Spring Training?

DAVE ROBERTS: I wouldn't say it started in Spring Training. We expected Blake to be healthy, Blake Snell to be healthy coming out of camp.

He just was balky, his shoulder. To put him on ice, to save bullets, to get him strong for the duration, that's kind of how it happened. And wouldn't change that.

There was some cost having other guys take down some of the stuff in the earlier part of the season.

Same thing with Tyler. We expected him to go wire to wire and pitch more than he did last year. But I think, to your question, we couldn't have had it any better as far as the workload where guys are at.

Even Shohei, we were very methodical in pitching him one inning at a time, to two, to three, to four. And now to feel that he's built up in a way that he is, I think that we couldn't have -- it couldn't have played out any better.

So a lot of credit goes to the training staff, the coaching staff. All those guys did a fantastic job.

Q. Will the outcomes of these two games determine when you have Glasnow and Ohtani pitch back at home, or is that already set?

DAVE ROBERTS: Already decided.

Q. Do you want to share?

DAVE ROBERTS: No. (Laughter).