WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL D - NICARAGUA VS DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

March 6, 2026

Luis Severino

LoanDepot Park

Team Dominican Republic

Pregame Press Conference

Q. You have to face the Netherlands. You saw their team today. How are you putting together your strategy to face the Netherlands? How important is it for you to go out today to win the first game in this Classic?

LUIS SEVERINO: First of all, good afternoon. I saw the game, yes. Venezuela beat the Netherlands 6-2. I will watch the game more carefully today, later today to study the hitters. It's a good team with good players. I will try to put together a game plan and execute it.

The team is looking forward to going out to the field. The guys are ready, and we are all excited to see what the lineup can do tonight.

Q. What adjustments are you going to make to face the Netherlands, considering that in the training you are not that ready for a game like that because you are getting ready for the season? What adjustments are you going to make for the Dominican Republic games?

LUIS SEVERINO: Well, mainly try to strike out everyone. We only have a limited number of pitches. It is important to try to get the outs to all the players as soon as possible as a pitcher, and I think that all the pitchers are thinking the same. Every time you get the ball, you try to strike out 10 or 15 players.

But since we have a limited number of pitches, it is important to try to put the ball as low as possible and try to strike out everyone.

Q. In 2020 you missed the season because of injuries. You had a beautiful career. How grateful are you? You have lived all of that and now you are on this stage representing the DR.

LUIS SEVERINO: I thank God every morning. I talk to him and I thank him for my career. Everything that I faced in my career was necessary because now I have the experience, and now I can help other younger players so that they have a better routine to take care of themselves better. To think more about what to do to improve my career because I had a different mindset at that point in time, and I'm trying to take care of myself.

Q. Mentally how are you facing this responsibility? You have a lot of experience as a pitcher. But as a pitcher like you, how are you facing this commitment to serve -- to be the base of a possible victory of the Dominican team in the second game?

LUIS SEVERINO: Like I said before, the team is willing to win. We are going to go out to the field no matter the team we are facing. We are going to do our best. We have all we need. The guys in the bullpen, the opening pitchers, starting pitchers, even the guys on the bench, they are anxious and looking forward to going out and showing the Dominican Republic that this will be one of the best Classics ever.

Q. If I'm not mistaken, the game on Tuesday was your first game as a professional pitcher in the Dominican Republic, and the stadium was packed. How are you planning to use that experience?

LUIS SEVERINO: Pitching in the DR helped me a lot. I was coming from Spring Training. There were 4,000, 5,000 people there, and at the stadium there were 20,000, but it felt like 40 or 50,000 people there. We were able to overcome the anxiety of being in a Classic. Defense helped us in that regard, and that's why we are ready to face what we are going to face here in Miami.