NL WILDCARD GAME: PHILLIES VS BRAVES

September 28, 2026

Trea Turner

Truist Park

Philadelphia Phillies

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. How do you reset?

TREA TURNER: It kind of feels like it sums up our whole season a little bit. Playing well at times, playing bad at times, getting unlucky sometimes. Just felt a little frustrating as a group. I think we knew that. We wanted to play well. We wanted to get in as soon as possible. You don't want to wait until the last day.

But at the same time, I think we've got a lot of veteran guys. Guys played a lot of postseason games and know anything can happen this time of year. It looked ugly, but that's behind us, and I think we feel good. We feel like we can beat anybody.

We obviously know we've got to play good clean baseball, and this time of year if you get hot you can keep winning and moving on. I think that's what we're focused on now.

Q. The last time you won a playoff series it was your first year and you guys beat the Braves. Is there anything about that matchup that you like?

TREA TURNER: Yeah, I think just playoff baseball is fun in general. It doesn't matter who you play. But division rivalries are always fun too. That familiarity is there, just the game of baseball, back and forth, how your at-bats went, how your matchups went in previous series, what are they going to do to you this time around, how are you going to make adjustments. Seeing that I think is really cool from a baseball fan perspective. It's going to be a good battle. I think it's two good teams going up against each other, and we're looking forward to it.

Q. A lot of guys yesterday were talking about the Playoffs being a fresh slate, a clean slate. In your mind does that apply on a personal level? It was a tough season. In your mind is it this is a clean slate and how can you take advantage of that?

TREA TURNER: Yeah, for sure. I feel like when you're going through the season, you're looking up at the scoreboard, you see your numbers all the time and now they kind of reset. From that mentality stamp, that's kind of refreshing a little bit.

But I've talked about it a lot lately, it doesn't matter what the numbers look like. Even now, it's just whether you win or lose. You go 1 for 4 and that might be a bad day, but if that one hit is to move a runner to win a game, to score an RBI, whatever it is, that's important.

It's how can you move on from at-bat to at-bat, whether it's good or bad, pitch to pitch, play to play. Just trying to put up more runs than the other team.

I definitely think there's a fresh slate, but at the same time you've just got to win. That's kind of what I'm focusing on.

Q. Obviously Sale is Sale. You've seen him a ton this year.

TREA TURNER: Yeah, I think the more you see a pitcher it's always beneficial, but he's so good, he's probably going to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. The year he's had has been unbelievable. He's had another great season, and he's one of those guys that's always going to be there and give you a hard time. We know it's not going to be easy. We're looking forward to it.

It seems like a really good competitor. I think we've got a lot of those in our clubhouse as well. Just going to battle and find a way to beat them. Give our pitchers a little bit of lead and try to finish it off.

Tomorrow is going to be fun, but that's just the start too.

Q. They haven't announced he's going to start tomorrow but I guess Luzardo is going to pitch at some point. What did you think of him yesterday coming out? Was that a cool moment for you to watch?

TREA TURNER: Yeah, that's kind of when I remember talking to my wife when we first traded for him, and kind of the same opinion of Sale I had of him. He seems like a really good competitor on one side of the ball, and that moment right there is kind of when I saw when we traded for him, a guy who would do anything to help his team win.

He's had such a good season for us and to get hurt right there at the end is really unfortunate, but it shows you how hard he worked to maybe some back to pitch that inning and in the postseason. I loved it. I thought the fans enjoyed it too. They gave him a big standing ovation when he came out there. I think all good signs for him.

Q. Do you get an adrenaline spike at all when you see him come out?

TREA TURNER: I think we really respect that. We respect Nola for going out there on Saturday, short rest. I think sometimes it doesn't get talked about enough in the sense of those guys are kind of putting their career on the line sometimes.

It could go poorly when a guy is thrown out of his routine, a guy that's used to getting four days' rest and then they have to pitch on short rest.

I think we talk about it in the clubhouse and I think we respect it, so yeah, I think the adrenaline situation maybe comes from the environment, the fans, the situation, the game type deal, but I think just the respect factor of a player being willing to do that is pretty cool.

Q. You've been around this core for a few years now. Is there anything new that you learned about this group with the way that you started off the season?

TREA TURNER: I think it was just -- it was kind of cool to see guys struggle at times and then pull themselves out of it at times. It didn't go as well as it could have gone for a lot of us. Like Bohmer started the season -- you guys have talked about it a lot, but he's been such a good player for a long time, and then this second half or the last two-thirds of the season, he's been really, really good for us, just RBI man.

You know, starters had a great season. But I think he started off slow, if I'm not mistaken, and the last game there, last two games, I think he had five hits and walking. So just seeing guys struggle at times, I think me and Gill talked about Kyle hitting the night before, just frustrated with his swing.

He's hit 380 homers in his career, and one of the best hitters in the game, and he's just not satisfied. It's just cool seeing guys kind of manage their situations and want to compete and want to get back out there and just loving the game, and I think that was pretty cool from a team standpoint.

Q. We don't know what Peter is going to do this week as well, but what's impressed you about his second-half turnaround?

TREA TURNER: Everything really. You could see the stuff was there. You could see the potential of him putting it together, and when he came back he just looked like a different pitcher. The changeup was so good. It's such a weapon for him. The command there, it seems like he's attacking guys a lot more.

We were talking about it early. I think Noel mentioned just how good the stuff is. It's on him to figure it out, and he seemed to have done that. It's been really big for us in the second half, and I think he's going to be a weapon for us going forward.

Q. You guys were talking about that earlier in the season when he was struggling --

TREA TURNER: Yeah, just because we look up at the scoreboard, see the numbers, the metrics, and it's like, when you see that on the other side, you're like, oh, this guy's breaking ball is good or the heater is good or whatever it might be, and you're like, man, how is he getting hit around.

When you're not in the box you don't necessarily know what it looks like. But just seeing him make that adjustment, changing up the pitch selection a little bit and kind of finding his way I think has been cool, and I think he's going to get better because he's going to find out what works, he's going to start to pitch a little bit more.

I think the more experience he gets, the better he's going to get, and he's going to be good going forward.

Q. With Salem tomorrow, there's a good shot that guys like Hill and De La Cruz and Sosa will be in the lineup. As an everyday guy, what have you thought about the way that as part time players they've come through with different moments throughout the year?

TREA TURNER: Huge. We talk about it in the clubhouse all the time. The at-bats those guys put together. Sosa has always been clutch for for us. Ever since I got here he seems like one of the most clutch hitters I've played with in a long time.

I didn't know much about D Hill beforehand, but seeing the at-bats he puts together, he works really hard. His preparation is second to none. He prepares for his role really, really well, and I think that's rubbed off on Craw a little bit because Craw went from an everyday player to kind of having to do that role a little bit, and I think that helped Craw out a lot.

So having those guys are so important. De La Cruz, I always thought he was a good player. He killed me whenever I played him against the Marlins. It's confusing to me he's bounced around so much, because I think he's a hell of a player.

And then the second he got here he's just hitting the ball hard. His at-bats are good. I know the numbers are good, but I think they should be even better. I feel like he's gotten kind of unlucky lately, a lot of line-outs. Those guys are huge for us. They're big on every team, but the guys we've got, great teammates, and the performance has been there as well and it's been fun to watch them.

Q. It seemed like Hill, you guys acquired him and he almost felt like he had been on the team for two years already. Is that the case?

TREA TURNER: Yeah, he's a good dude, man. He's always happy. Probably one of the most positive people I've played with. No matter how bad it's going for him, he's happy, and that's hard to do in this game. This game beats you up a little bit. I respect that from him, and I think just that speaks volumes.

I think we had a conversation earlier because he wanted to come here, wanted to be here. He thought this would be a cool place to play, and he's shown up and played great for us and been a good teammate every step of the way.

It's been a perfect fit and feels like, like he said, he's been here a long time.

Q. As hitters, do you guys have to adjust the strategy for the postseason considering the two challenges?

TREA TURNER: Yeah, I think we've been pretty good as a team for the most part, but I feel like the early challenges, you've got to be really right. So I think we're going to focus on that a little bit just as an offense, maybe not challenging super early.

But I think we've got to trust ourselves as well. There's a big situation in the first inning, bases loaded, whatever it may be, you can't be scared to use them. They're there for a reason.

I'd like JT to have them. He's obviously been so good for us, and if you have a lead late, you want JT to have them. There's been a little bit of strategy, but I think we've done a good job this year and I don't know if we have to change too much.

It's just being conscious of situations and just how we use him or when we use him, but I think we've done a good job.

Q. On your challenges when you make them, how often when you make them are you like, I know for sure this is a ball --

TREA TURNER: Never, man. There's always a little bit of a second doubt. Early on in the season, I did it basically all situational. Even if I thought it was a strike and I knew I'd probably be wrong, if it was runners in scoring position and a strike to end the inning, I would just say why not?

Lately it's been mostly -- I've been a little bit better, and it's pitches that I feel like are way outside the zone, and then they might be a little closer than you think.

I think that's how we all are. I think JT is the same. He thinks a pitch is definitely in the zone and maybe a third of the ball is in the zone. That's how we are as players. We think it's farther and we might be getting a little bit lucky. I don't know if we know it's a quarter of an inch, .1 inch, whatever it might be.

Lately I've felt like there's some drastic calls on me and I wanted to use them, not be scared about it, and early on it was more situational based.

Kind of try to stick with that, trust yourself, and if it's really bad, do it, but if it's close -- like yesterday I wanted to challenge the splitter down and away but I was like, man, if I'm wrong, I want JT to have the challenges. Clips the zone, and it was a good pitch. You've just kind of got to process that as fast as you can and trust yourself.

Q. Is it nerve-racking at all when you're waiting for the result?

TREA TURNER: Oh, yeah. There's some pitches where -- I think it depends on the pitch. So the low one for me is a little tough because when the ball is coming through it's like, oh, it's a strike and then it's two inches down, but the ones on the outside where it's a breaking ball and it doesn't come back, I think it's a little less nerve-racking, but for me, the low ones are a little harder to judge.