WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL D - DOMINICAN REPUBLIC VS ISRAEL

March 9, 2026

Brad Ausmus

LoanDepot Park

Team Israel

Postgame Press Conference

Dominican Republic 10, Israel 1

Q. Brad, for three games we've sat here asking the manager for the opposing team against the Dominican Republic how tough is it to face this lineup. Even after a game like today where they arrested some people, what challenges did your staff encounter with this lineup?

BRAD AUSMUS: I mean, it's obviously one of the best lineups in the world, quite frankly. It presents a lot of challenges. Even when they're resting some of their guys, the guys that aren't resting are pretty darned good.

It's formidable. It's going to be a challenge for any team.

Q. Are there any moral victories you can take from this game from anything that happened today?

BRAD AUSMUS: Well, they didn't run rule us, I guess. That would be about it. It's never fun to get your butt kicked. But like we said, they're a really good team. The atmosphere was great, as always, when you're playing against the DR here in Miami. Great experience for a lot of guys who have never experienced something like this, and we got some guys in at the end of the game who have never experienced it. So hopefully they have lasting memories from it, so that can be a silver lining.

Q. Can you speak to the bounce back that Daniel Federman made from the first game today?

BRAD AUSMUS: Yeah, he looked much better today, a lot more comfortable. Someone asked me before the game about the bullpen. We were staring at today's game and tomorrow's game, 18 innings, and a lot of concern of getting through it with the pitch constraints. Federman helped us do that today.

Q. Have you guys chosen a starter for tomorrow?

BRAD AUSMUS: TBD.

Q. As a former catcher and just somebody who's been around the game for a while, how do you begin to try to formulate a pitching attack plan against this type of lineup? How do you get them out?

BRAD AUSMUS: Well, I mean, let's be honest, it's baseball. You're going to get most hitters out most of the time. It's just the way it is. All the information is there. This team is a well-known commodity. The information to get them out is on computers across baseball.

The key is executing. The execution of the pitches to get them out is the most important part, and with a lot of them it's very difficult because their weaknesses are small. A guy like Juan Soto, he's going to make you pay if you miss and there's not a lot of places you can go to get him out. They have a lot of guys that are similar.

So we had all the information. It's just a matter of executing the pitches.

Q. What's it like for you seeing Albert as a manager in the opposing dugout?

BRAD AUSMUS: It's kind of fun. I had Albert in Anaheim when I managed there. I played against him for years when he was in St. Louis. We always had a great relationship. I know he really enjoys the strategy of the game, the history of the game. He's one of the greatest players to walk the planet.

So it's fun to see him there, and it was fun to catch up with him over these last few days.

Q. The opposing team's starting pitcher, Brayan Bello, only gave up one hit and no walks. What do you think was happening with his pitching that made hitting and getting walked --

BRAD AUSMUS: He's a good pitcher. I've seen plenty of Bello being with the Yankees and him being in Boston, I've seen plenty of him. He's particularly tough on right-handed hitters with the sinker, which is why we tried to throw a bunch of lefties in there. He's a good big-league pitcher, and he was good today.

Q. If my calculations are correct, they fielded nine major leaguers today, you fielded three. How do you get your team to a level where they can compete on that level in future World Baseball Classics?

BRAD AUSMUS: Yeah, we just kind of spoke about this earlier today, that the hope is as Israel plays in the WBC, more and more players that are eligible to play for them get involved, and that has happened, especially over the last couple years, and farther down the road, you actually hope it's Israeli-born players rather than American players with Jewish heritage.

Q. So many fans say that this Dominican team is a PlayStation team. What do you think about that?

BRAD AUSMUS: Well, yeah, it's the type of team you put together when you want to win on PlayStation or MLB The Show. There's a couple other teams in this tournament that are probably similar. They're a very good team, like I said. Right now they're one of the best teams on the planet.

They're going to play a Venezuelan team Wednesday night that's also very good. And assuming they advance, they're going to play against the Japanese team and a U.S. team probably that are extremely good, and it should be fun baseball. It should be exciting.