NL WILD CARD SERIES: CUBS VS PADRES

September 29, 2026

Craig Counsell

Petco Park

Chicago Cubs

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Just to start, can you take us through just the decisions roster-wise with not putting Thielbar on the roster and what you like about having Arias?

CRAIG COUNSELL: In terms of the pitching, a little bit has to do with, frankly, their position player group, what we expect to see as the game goes on position player-wise. They're going to pinch-hit for certain guys for sure, just in necessary pockets.

Then we also -- there's -- you can't cover everything, I guess, in these scenarios. You get 26 guys, and I think in terms of how we put it together, we probably covered more of the crazy games or crazy series, in terms of length of pitching and how we chose things.

Then we protected our injury downside a little bit too.

Q. Last year Javier Assad didn't make the postseason roster -- another roster question -- but this year he did. What went into that decision?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Javier had a really good year. Last year was an injury-filled year, frankly, for Javy. This year he was an important part of our pitching, kind of filling a multitude of roles. He's going to play, we think, an important role throughout the playoffs for us.

I didn't answer the Arias question either. The Arias, we felt like just getting some balance in the roster in terms of being able to -- another infielder. Obviously Alex is DH'ing tonight, and just making sure we have coverage in the infield.

Q. You just mentioned it there, Craig, but Alex at DH. What's his status in terms of being able to play in the field in your guys' estimation?

CRAIG COUNSELL: I think ultimately I made a decision that I want to -- I played it safe, I'll be honest with you. I just think this is a man seven days off of facial fractures, and I want his at-bat -- I think his at-bats are the most critical thing for our team is that he gets his at-bats this series. That's what's most important.

I feel like this is a better way to guarantee that he gets these at-bats. There's just more risk playing the field. Could it go fine? Yeah. Does he want to play the field? He does. I think this is the way to -- this is just a safer way to go to make sure he gets all his at-bats.

Q. Now that you've survived the last weekend of the season and you're here and all that, what was it to go through? Does it feel like anything to even think about at this point? Does it make it harder to play today?

CRAIG COUNSELL: No, no. I think yesterday was a real help for us for sure, just being here. We got in Sunday night. So we were here and got to spend kind of a normal off day before a playoff series, I think. So no repercussions in any way.

We're ready to go. It's sunny San Diego, you can't beat it. It's never a bad thing coming here.

Q. I'm assuming no decision yet on Game 2 starter?

CRAIG COUNSELL: No, we're not going to name a Game 2 starter.

Q. Just when it comes to that rotation group, how much is it -- how important is it that you just have that buy-in from all those guys that they're willing to do whatever it is, whatever's asked?

CRAIG COUNSELL: This is the playoffs. I don't think actually anybody -- everybody just wants to contribute in the playoffs and do whatever they can to help you get a win, help you get to the next round. That's been common in every playoff series I've been with every team. You do whatever you have to do to get a win, to get outs, to put a run on the board to get to the next series.

The buy-in on that is it's easy. You don't have to ask for that. They want to do that.

Q. How's Gausman feeling? Is he still trending in the right direction?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah, I don't have a lot of information from last night to right now. So we're kind of status quo there. Nothing's happened since last time we talked, unfortunately.

Q. With defense being the foundation of this team when you enter the postseason, just what does it mean for a club? You could say defense doesn't slump, but just to have a group where you know that's always kind of showing up, the importance of that in the postseason?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Look, I think it was a big story in the last year's series against San Diego. I think Dansby had an incredible defensive series, clearly took runs off the board for them, and it kind of highlighted it.

You need opportunities. I think we're going to get opportunities in this series, and it's important. We have to make those plays. It is part of -- it is our strength, there's no question about it. We're going to have opportunities to make that play, right? It's going to be a hard play probably, right? But it's one of the things we've been really good at this year, and it's one of the reasons why we win games.

Q. I don't know if it's the right time to ask, but for you to compare, but do you go in feeling any better, differently about this team, the way it's playing, your chances, what have you, compared to last year?

CRAIG COUNSELL: No. I understand the question. Certainly I think the only thing you do -- because we played them last year, I spend more time probably looking at the series last year just to understand some usage and things like that and how the games went down, more for their bullpen, to be honest with you. It doesn't -- I don't think it matters.

Look, we've got three games in front of us. You've got to win two of them. You win the game tonight, and nobody's thinking about what's happened in the past. We're thinking about what's going on at 7:10 tonight. That's all that matters.

Q. You kind of touched on it a bit yesterday, and honestly kind of always, but just pitchers having to be ready for any scenario. You made like a pretty concerted effort, it seemed, in the last maybe two weeks to put guys like Civale in maybe one-plus opportunities, putting Assad in a dirty inning. How important do you think preparing guys for moments they might be experiencing for the first time in the postseason, how important do you think that maybe sets them up for potential success now?

CRAIG COUNSELL: I think we don't have a young team. We have an experienced team. We have guys that -- I don't think these situations are going to surprise any of our guys.

Look, you feel a little different in playoff situations, but the vast majority of our guys have felt this, these feelings. The particular situation they enter the game in, I don't think it's as big a deal. I think it's kind of like managing your emotions that are different because this is the playoffs. That's probably the most important thing.

Then from that perspective, I think we're really prepared for that. So probably worry about that more than the specific situations that come in.