AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: MARINERS VS BLUE JAYS

October 15, 2025

Chris Bassitt

T-Mobile Park

Toronto Blue Jays

Pregame 3 Press Conference

Q. When you look at how your team got here this year, what is it that gives you the most optimism about these games coming up here?

CHRIS BASSITT: The roster, just the guys on our team. Very, very talented. A bunch of old guys, for the most part, that been there, done that. So, yeah, it's just the roster.

Q. What about tonight's starter, Shane Bieber, what have you learned about him as a teammate and what do you think about that going into tonight with this moment for him?

CHRIS BASSITT: Yeah, I mean obviously, Shane's a Cy Young guy, a guy with his caliber, you always wonder kind of how he got there, and then you get him in the room and you realize how smart he is. And then you put him around a veteran group that loves to talk pitching, loves to talk baseball, then all of a sudden it's like this is kind of the perfect match.

So, yeah, we're very, very confident in him. He can execute probably better than any one ever us, so we're very excited for that.

Q. With Bieber, tonight is the reason that you guys traded for him, right, for games like this. How does he keep that pressure in the back of his head and go out and execute the way he has to to win?

CHRIS BASSITT: Yeah, I would just say it's confidence in our team. Haven't really been down 2-0 in the playoffs and been excited about it, but pretty excited about just the opportunity that we have just to see what we're made of, honestly. It is way more so just based on, again, the guys that we have in our clubhouse, what we've built throughout the year, understanding our game, understanding roles, things like that. So it's not so much, like, we need more out of him. It's just we need to go out there and play our game.

Q. When you say you're excited to see what this team is made of, given that there's already been 169 games to see, what are you looking forward to? What is it that excites you about being in the position that you're in?

CHRIS BASSITT: Yeah, I would say the biggest thing is just, like, how much confidence do we really have in ourself. A lot of the times you get down, what we obviously are, you want to do more. You want to completely change who you are or try to do too much, but I think we just have built ourself, built our team from day one, even in the off-season, of just taking pride of all, like, the small things, taking pride of base running, pitching, all the little situations, obviously outfield, infield, defense, game preparation, things like that.

So the first two games, I just don't think we played that well in many different facets, so now it's just more so just can we get back to just our game and just play our game.

Q. You mentioned having a lot of guys on the roster that have been through a lot of these battles and the ups and downs. How have you seen the younger guys kind of respond to the ups and downs of this postseason, and how has your experience been? What was it like earlier in your career and how did you kind of deal with that early on compared to how you handle it now?

CHRIS BASSITT: Yeah, I would say it's not really a fair assessment for me talking about my career because the times when I was coming up, it was in Oakland and we had a bunch of really, really talented guys that were really young. None of us really had been there before. I'm not saying we didn't have veteran presences there, but it was just -- it was more so just veteran guys in and out, and not established guys that have been there, done that that have been there multiple years.

So it was a lot of the younger guys, Chappy and Olson and Semiem, and them trying to lead a ship at a very young age. So it's very different from my upbringing.

But, yeah, for this clubhouse, obviously, added Scherzer, but you look at Gausy, you look at Berrios, Vlady is obviously younger age-wise, but I think he's very mature for his age. Bo, same way. Then you add Shane, another big piece for us. And then Santander and Andrés and things like that. We're not really shook by being down 2-0. It sucks, but, again, we just have confidence in what we've built.

Q. On the topic of veterans, Schneids was just in here talking about how the veterans in the locker room have been having conversations amongst each other, as you have all season. Just wondering if you can take us into some of the specifics of any of those conversations.

CHRIS BASSITT: I would say you would have to elaborate more about that in the aspect of, like, game plan or what.

Q. Just where you guys are right now.

CHRIS BASSITT: Nothing has really changed from how we approach the game. It's not really talking about being down 2-0. It's just about today. Yesterday was all about today, and it was not about the game before or things like that, just because, again, I don't think would we played that well.

So now it's just more so just how can we get back to being ourself and worrying about that. Other than that, it's not really a big deal other than -- like, it's not like we're trying to completely change the dynamic of our game, it's not like we went out there and played our game and lost. So it's more so just we still have a lot of confidence in our game and how we play and what we do.

Q. You've spent a lot of time at this ballpark being in division with them previously. What is it like to pitch here both in terms of the environment and large outfield and somewhat unique dimensions?

CHRIS BASSITT: Yeah, beautiful ballpark, fan base is pretty much as hungry as Toronto's fan base. We have a lot of respect for Seattle, not just their team, but, obviously, the way they run things, the way that they play the game.

So, yeah, I feel like it's going to be like in Toronto, how it's pretty loud, pretty crazy, the team wants to win not just for themself, but for the fans that have been asking for this for a long, long time. So I would say it's just going to be embrace the moment and have fun with it.

Q. After the back caused you some issue in September, how are you feeling physically, now and also how has the transition for the bullpen gone for, you kind of having to do it in the playoffs like this?

CHRIS BASSITT: Yeah, good. I feel really, really good right now. A lot better than what I was. It was just an unfortunate thing where I took a lot of bullets, so to speak, for the team throughout the last two, three years, and I just needed time off kind of at the wrong time. But the reality is I feel really, really good right now. If you know my background at all, bullpen's not a foreign thing to me. I came up as a reliever. I love the chaos of relieving. I love the fans talking crap to me. I love all that. Yeah, relieving is more so of like an adrenaline dump, and then it's just have fun with it. So, yeah, and I'm like, physically, I'm able to throw a lot more than most. It's just -- I know I joke with Schneids about it, but like I could throw every game for the playoffs, it don't matter.

Q. It feels like, out of everyone on this team you know Max Scherzer the best. We haven't seen him pitching in three weeks, and it was a rough finish to the season for him. What have you seen from him since he last pitched, what are you expecting out of him tomorrow?

CHRIS BASSITT: Yeah, I expect Max to be Max, in the aspect of just go out there and execute at a very, very high level. I think we were very similar, we were in very similar boats at the end of the year. I know my numbers at the end of the year were probably a little bit better than his for the last month, but we were both kind of dealing with the same stuff where it was, we had to start games when we didn't feel good, we had things going on physically. We joke that we were both the grandpas in the group. So, yeah, obviously I had to take some time off, Max took time off, it was just to get both of us healthy. Like, we had to put all of our trust in our teammates. Me and Max definitely weren't happy about not playing against New York, but at the end of the day it was looking at this series here, knowing that we needed this. So, yeah, it was just trusting the guys that we have in the room to get us to this series and then, like I said, getting Max healthy, and I think Max is in a really, really good spot for that.