NL WILD CARD SERIES: CUBS VS PADRES

September 29, 2026

Nico Hoerner

Petco Park

Chicago Cubs

Pregame Press Conference

Q. With Alex being in the lineup so soon since what happened to him, how remarkable is that to have seen that, and how much better does it make you guys to know he's going to be in there?

NICO HOERNER: Yeah, I thought it was super uplifting just seeing him on the field at all in Boston, just that he seemed to see the ball and took strong swings, and that was huge "nice." And then to do what he did on Sunday was pretty remarkable.

And then I think just his attitude from within hours of being hit in the face, how quickly he reoriented everything to being ready for the playoffs, and every decision he made worked backwards from that. Just kind of a reflection of what he values, and he's one of the great playoff performers in baseball history, and I'm glad he's on our side for it.

Q. You guys have the best defense in baseball this season again. Obviously last Wild Card series, we saw what a game changer and how much that can swing a series like this. What is it like going into the playoffs knowing you guys have that and the value it gives you guys to lean on that?

NICO HOERNER: It's been pretty remarkable and from so many different places this year. I think like playoff baseball requires you to win a lot of different types of games. I'd argue Wrigley Field does too. There's kind of a chaotic element to that in general where you've got to win the high-scoring games, the low-scoring games, out-slug a team, but I think defense kind of creates consistency throughout that.

There's randomness to every game, so the more you can control on your own end, the better.

Q. What type of leader has Craig been for you guys this season? Your whole team kind of talks constantly about the ups and downs, the things that you've been through. How has he kind of been a presence that has helped you guys get through all that stuff?

NICO HOERNER: I think it's a nice mix of his voice goes a long way when he uses it, but he's pretty thoughtful about how and when he does talk to the group. I think he puts a lot of trust in his players, especially knowing we have a more veteran team. That takes a lot of confidence from a manager to kind of let the players set the tone themselves.

He does a really nice job of that, as well as trusting his staff. I think that's kind of his way of instilling confidence in people in a lot of ways, and I think it's been super effective. Obviously a challenging year on his end just finding innings to piece through the whole season. Yeah, really impressive.

Q. Obviously Padres have a really high-end bullpen. What's the mentality? It's going to be high leverage when Miller or Morejon come in. What's the mentality when you have to face guys like that in the biggest moments of the playoffs?

NICO HOERNER: Definitely. Pretty much every team at this point and baseball in general has pretty explosive stuff on the back end. Not that you can't come back, but the best recipe definitely isn't trailing late in the game.

I think one thing that's cool about playoff baseball is the level of urgency from first pitch, right? Kind of has an eighth or ninth inning feel throughout the game. Yeah, they have an electric bullpen. We saw that last year too in the playoffs.

Q. What sticks out to you about your pitching staff and how they've approached this season and what you anticipate in the postseason? If you can also talk about Matthew Boyd, having played behind him and in big games like this?

NICO HOERNER: Everyone stepped up in a really big way, and guys have had to take on different roles than they've done in their career. I think that's also part of playoff baseball, right? Nine innings becomes -- feels like it's longer than nine innings sometimes I think in the postseason, just with how the game is shortened for starters. A reliever is going two innings that maybe wouldn't otherwise and just the ways that you find length and getting all 27 outs.

I think we have a really versatile staff and the ability to pitch in different situations, starters that are maybe in the bullpen or bullpen guys going longer innings, things like that that -- I think that's one of Couns's best strengths and something we'll see on full display.

Q. From your experience in the last postseason, is there anything you feel you can take away from that and lean on starting this postseason?

NICO HOERNER: Yeah, I think so. I think as a group for a lot of us, though, it was our first time playing postseason baseball. I think we did a lot of things well. It's a reminder that things will go wrong, and that doesn't mean that things are bad necessarily, like things go wrong every game that we play, and the ability to handle that and still give your best the next pitch is a big part of it.

I think just like a healthy reminder of leaning on your teammates, like talking about things that you're feeling, like it is a heightened emotional time of year, and a lot of that's really positive too. I think the more that you kind of lean on your teammates and the other people that are feeling the same things, the better.

Q. It is a more veteran group, but then I think of a guy like Pedro Ramirez, and as someone who's young and kind of thrown into it, what do you anticipate someone like him to be surrounded by a lot of veterans, but also what he could be feeling as maybe just a lot in moments like this?

NICO HOERNER: Yeah, I think it was a late-inning pitching change at some point during the season, and he kind of -- Wrigley was pretty loud at that point. He kind of asked me like is this kind of what playoffs are like? I was like, uh, not really, honestly. It's maybe times two or three. He's like okay, okay.

It wasn't from a place of, oh, I don't know, maybe it will be hard or anything like that. He was excited, and I love how he approaches baseball because he's very excited and passionate about getting better, but he never seems overwhelmed, which is a pretty cool combo and something that fits playoff baseball really well.

Q. Nico, maybe not knowing what the future holds for him personally, Ian was talking last week about kind of soaking in the end of the regular season schedule at Wrigley. How do you guys kind of lean on his experience and his personality to kind of help you guys through these really big moments right now?

NICO HOERNER: I think something Ian has done really well through his whole time of being a Cub, I think especially this year, is kind of reminding everybody about like history of the organization in a way that I think creates a lot of gratitude about what we're a part of, both for the season that you're within but also for the bigger picture of what it means to be playing for the Cubs and all the people that have come before you.

We've had a lot of accomplishments this year on our team, between guys reaching ten years or 1,000 hits or all the things in between. Any time there's something big like that, it's pretty cool to acknowledge the individual and then put in the context of some team history. I think it makes playing at Wrigley Field that much more special when you have people like Ian that emphasize just what that place has meant to him in his time here.

Q. Pete was talking yesterday about how he feels like he has more to prove this postseason after kind of struggling at the end of last year and not being his best version last postseason. Just what has it been like this year? There's been so many moments where he's risen to the moment. Just what has it been like watching him in those moments and the confidence you guys feel when he does find himself in those situations?

NICO HOERNER: Yeah, absolutely. You can look at his overall stat line, and it's obviously incredible and historical and all those things, but that much more impressive when you start breaking it down into leverage moments, and even like I would call the first at-bat of the game a leverage moment, like his homers to start the game or homers to end the game.

So it seems, like you said, any moment that's been bigger has brought out the best version of himself. What's so great about his game is like he can not homer this series or whatever and still be the best player on the field, right? Like it's amazing that he led baseball in homers and he can still dominate without hitting homers. That's a pretty cool player.

Q. When Alex got hit by that ball, are you immediately thinking like, oh, no, we lost him? Or are you thinking there's no way this guy doesn't play, I don't care what happened? What's going through your mind at that point?

NICO HOERNER: Yeah, it's hard to imagine anything keeping him out of a playoff game, but you start having a broken face, and that definitely would creep into the thoughts of this might be it. So super scary.

That whole Sunday game after he got hurt was pretty sad, honestly, just like with people just thinking about that, thinking about what he's feeling, and what an amazing year that he's had, how huge he's been for us, and knowing how much he cares about playoff baseball and this team and winning.

So just super proud of how he's handled all that. He kind of -- he was quick to, just with his own demeanor, let people know that he's okay and he was still himself very quickly, which was impressive.