WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL C - CZECHIA VS KOREA

March 4, 2026

Daniel Padysak

Marek Chlup

Tokyo Dome

Team Czechia

Pregame Press Conference

Q. You signed with the Tokyo Giants, and I think the Tokyo Dome is familiar with you. This was your ex-home. How do you feel about returning to Tokyo and play again at your former home stadium? And Mr. Padysak, you are going to be a probable start for tomorrow's big game against Australia. How do you feel right now?

MAREK CHLUP: I'm looking forward to three games in the Tokyo Dome. I had a cans to may a couple games last year in spring training and also I've been here at the practice a few times.

Like you said, I'm familiar with the stadium, and I was looking forward to come back and play here with my teammates. You know, we've been here three years ago. We played a good baseball last time. So we're looking forward to doing it again this year.

DANIEL PADYSAK: Yeah, and I'm really excited to be back here as well. It's been three years. We've all been looking forward to this, and I'm really excited that Pavel had confidence in me to start the game against Korea. I will do my very best to help the team win. I think we have a great group of guys, and I'm really excited to see what we can do on the field.

Q. Have you had a chance to maybe see Korea's last couple of games in Osaka? What did you think of the lineup, and if you haven't had a chance to see them, anything stuck out for you as far as their lineup?

DANIEL PADYSAK: Yes, I watched the games, and I think they have a really talented team, a lot of great hitters and good swings. We did a little bit of a scouting report. We watched the games, and I was impressed to see what they can do. We'll see how they compare against us tomorrow. I think it will be a great game.

Q. Both of you have played professionally in Japan now. I'm curious, what have you learned and what changed about your game, how does training compare to what you maybe were used to in Czechia, what styles have you learned, and what are things you're going to use this week in Tokyo Dome again?

MAREK CHLUP: So for me playing here, I have to say I learned a lot, and it can be great experience for tournaments like this where you play a bunch of different teams. For example, we play teams from Australia. We also play teams from Asia. So there's different styles of baseball, each team that plays.

So I think it gives me an advantage because I play professionally in the U.S. and also in Japan, and both these countries play a different style of baseball. The pitchers are a little bit different.

In a tournament like this, I think it's important to make adjustments day-by-day and game by game especially where we play two games in less than 24 hours, like tomorrow and the next day.

So I think it could be an advantage for both of us.

DANIEL PADYSAK: For me, playing here in Japan, I learned a lot as well. Gave me a lot of insights. Met a lot of great people and learned a lot not just about baseball but about the culture, as well. Made some great connections. Gave me a lot of experience, even though my season was not the longest here in Japan. But yeah, it was a great time, and I learned a lot for sure.

Q. Three years ago when you played in this competition, it was Czech Republic's first time at the tournament. How has Czech Republic baseball grown and developed since then?

MAREK CHLUP: I think the level of baseball in Czech Republic definitely grew since the last time we played here. Us advancing into the main tournament helped baseball in Czech Republic because you can start seeing baseball in TV in Czech.

I think more people definitely want to be involved in baseball. They now see it as a sport that's on a high level. If they watch the games that we play here, they can see that it's possible to play in a high level. So that helped baseball in Czech grow.

And I think this time there was definitely more players from which our manager could choose the roster. So that's a good sign why I think our team is better for this year.

DANIEL PADYSAK: Yeah, and I would definitely agree. I think the game of baseball in Czech definitely has grown a lot. You see people being interested more in it, a lot of kids playing baseball.

And I think me and Marek, we both just want to pass it on to the next generations and make it a better sport back home. You just want to leave it better than you found it, and that's what we're doing out here.