WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL D - DOMINICAN REPUBLIC VS ISRAEL

March 9, 2026

Brad Ausmus

LoanDepot Park

Team Israel

Pregame Press Conference

Q. How much sleep did you guys get last night?

BRAD AUSMUS: Decent. It wasn't too bad. Our bus wasn't until 9:30, so got enough.

Q. How much are you guys trying to limit the hangover from the win last night and try and focus on today?

BRAD AUSMUS: I mean, the same way you flush the loss the previous night, you flush the win. You can't change anything that happened the day before. You can only look forward to the game in front of you that day. Win or lose, you flush it and you move on.

Q. Seems like yesterday was more of an aggressive game plan. Would that carry over for today or are you going to be more conservative, more of a focus on getting through today's game and on to tomorrow's game?

BRAD AUSMUS: I've kind of said from the get-go that if we're going to win in this format against these teams, we're going to have to be aggressive. Yesterday looked more aggressive but it often looks more aggressive when you have more base runners. Those things go hand in hand. But when we have the opportunity, we do have to be aggressive.

Q. For a column I'm doing on Spencer Horwitz what does bring to the team? What does it mean to the team to have a player of his caliber?

BRAD AUSMUS: He's a legitimate good major league player, and he's got some experience in WBC having played here last time, albeit in the outfield. He's got big league time with the Toronto Blue Jays and the Pittsburgh Pirate. He's a major league player and he takes major league at-bats and his experience and poise rubs off on his teammates.

Q. In terms of availability of the guys in the bullpen, are there any guys who are limited because they pitched yesterday, and are there any guys that you've been told by the teams to not pitch them on back-to-back days?

BRAD AUSMUS: Yeah, I'm not going to get into who is available or not available per organizational request. But we certainly do have pitch constraints. I can openly say Dean Kremer will not be available.

Q. How is the team approaching this kind of environment today facing the Dominican knowing that it's going to be extremely loud, everything that comes with that?

BRAD AUSMUS: I actually think the players really enjoy it. They got a little bit of a taste of it against Venezuela. To me, it was surprisingly loud yesterday. I thought last night's game would be a little quieter, but it was actually quite loud. I don't know that either will be as loud as the Dominican game today.

We have a few guys that played in 2023 against the Dominican. We know how loud it can get. But it actually makes it fun. The environment, there's a lot of energy. There's a lot of excitement. There's music and dancing. It's a great atmosphere to play baseball in.

My hope is that they embrace it.

Q. Can you just talk about what the players felt, not just from a player perspective, what that meant to the country of Israel to have that incredible victory over a tough team and the Jewish pride that maybe a lot of the players felt in winning that game?

BRAD AUSMUS: The excitement was palpable after the game. I received texts from people in Israel after the game, so they were up late watching it.

With every WBC round or tournament, more and more people in Israel actually are watching it, and the hope is eventually it's Israeli-born players playing in it. That's the goal. That's probably a little bit down the road. But the excitement is real in the clubhouse after the game. But long-term I'd like to see the excitement continue and grow in Israel.

Q. Speaking of Israeli-born players, Assaf Lowengart, how much has his energy brought to the clubhouse? Also, he hasn't played in the first two games. Is there a plan to play him today or tomorrow?

BRAD AUSMUS: There's no pre-plan to play him. Tactically we're going to win the game. If there's a spot where he can go in to help us win the game, that's what we'll do. He's really actually connected very well with the team. I think the team has embraced him because he is Israeli.

Hopefully we can get him in at some point today. Again, the game is going to kind of determine that.