NL DIVISION SERIES: PADRES VS BREWERS

October 2, 2026

Xander Bogaerts

American Family Field

San Diego Padres

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. You've obviously been a part of teams that have had a great amount of success in the postseason. Your team this year is off to a really nice start in the postseason. I'm wondering what you've seen in the second half and in the first couple of games here in the postseason that gives you believe that you guys can go on a really deep run?

XANDER BOGAERTS: For the second half, our offense pretty much have stepped it up. I think it starts with Tati and Jackson and obviously Manny for quite a bit. The big boys are just stepping you up.

The pitching for the most year has been pretty solid. The bullpen, starters, they stepped up. I think the offense just carried over in the playoffs. And the more runs you score, the better chances you have to win.

Q. You had a really nice finish to the regular season that's carried over into the Wild Card series. What has worked for you the last handful of weeks?

XANDER BOGAERTS: Just seeing the ball well and trying to put the ball in play. You have a chance, especially in the playoffs, where the arms are much better, the execution might be a little better also. Just trying to help the team and feeling good at the plate. So hopefully that continues.

Q. Speaking of the good arms you'll face, Misiorowski, likely Cy Young winner in the National League, throws so hard. Your thoughts on going up against a guy like him?

XANDER BOGAERTS: I mean, it's definitely gonna be tough. He's, as you say, he's probably one of the favorites to win the Cy Young Award. But I feel like in the playoffs every team has at least a couple good arms. Not a lot of guys that might be able to throw 100, 104, as a starter. But they all have good stuff.

A lot of teams have two as I said two, three starters that have the ability to be aces in any other team. So it's gonna be a tough, tough task but we're all up for it.

Q. You faces Misiorowski this year. What was it like when you stepped into the batter's box against him this year? Can you take us through those at-bats and what you remember of it?

XANDER BOGAERTS: I feel like it was a while back. I guess they're quick. I think that's fair enough to say. I guess they're pretty quick, he's tall, lanky, and a good fastball. He's probably the favorite for the Cy Young. So gotta be ready for a pitch and try to execute on whatever mistakes he makes, if he leaves some balls over the plate. As I said, not a lot of guys that can throw that hard.

Q. The Padres have probably had more success against the Brewers than anybody else has who's faced them the last few years. What is it about this match-up that's kind of worked for you all these last three years?

XANDER BOGAERTS: Coming here, playing against these guys, they're very, very fundamentally sound. Defense, running the bases, putting the ball in play, they put a lot of contact; they don't really strike out that much.

You have to bring your A game, because, as I said, they're just a team that's a headache. It's not like a swing and miss, they're going for the home run or nothing. They play good defense, run the bases, a lot of guys with speed. Guys can hit homers also, but for the most part, they put the ball in play and use their legs.

Q. We noticed the split grip you're using now. When did you start using it? Whose idea was it? And how long did it take you to get comfortable with it?

XANDER BOGAERTS: I don't know. It's working, so let's keep it going.

Q. Did it come out of nowhere?

XANDER BOGAERTS: No, it didn't come out of nowhere, but hopefully it continues, yeah.

Q. Especially with pitching in this series, when runs are going to be a premium, how important will just hitting runners in scoring position be in this series, do you think?

XANDER BOGAERTS: I think in every series, right?

Q. It is, but does it change in the playoffs, when every chance might be so limited?

XANDER BOGAERTS: I think it might get magnified a little bit more. A lot less games on TV. A lot more people watching at your specific game. So it could get magnified.

But you always try to bring the runs in, especially if you have a runner on third with less than two outs, you try to get them in. It's not going to work all the time. But pitcher executes his pitch, it's still going to be tough.

We both have good pitching, good bullpen. We're both deep especially on the pitching end. Probably the one that executes more will be the winner of the series. But, yeah, it's always important to score runs, for sure.

Q. What do you get with a split grip? How does that help you?

XANDER BOGAERTS: I don't know. I don't know.

Q. You know.

XANDER BOGAERTS: I wish I knew.

Q. Your postseason success, how much of that is just being here and being used to it and treating it the same as a regular season game?

XANDER BOGAERTS: It's different. It's definitely different. As I said, the stakes are higher. Everything gets magnified. The situations are much more important, much more bigger.

Like you mentioned earlier, like a runner in scoring position, runner on third with less than two outs, it's that much more important now than in the regular season. Let's be honest with that.

But the stakes are higher. And every little run, every little mistake, every little good execution can work in favor for the winning team. So it's very important to play your best baseball as a team and in the right time because every series is different. Every playoff run is different. But we played a nice first round with the Cubs. So hopefully that continues.

Q. With Robbie Ray starting tomorrow, what are you looking forward to seeing from him on the mound?

XANDER BOGAERTS: A quality start. I've faced him quite a bit. Former Cy Young pitcher. He's pretty tough. He's not an easy guy to go out there and face. He goes out there and competes.

The more innings he can give us is probably the best. But a quality start, I feel like he's always around that area that he's probably going to give you, which is huge.

Q. About a year ago, in Chicago, you said you were really looking forward to ABS this season. What have your thoughts been this year on using the system?

XANDER BOGAERTS: I like it. I like it a lot. If it's a strike, it's a strike; it's a ball, it's a ball. It's still up to us to decide if we're gonna challenge it. Sometimes the one that hurts are the ones that are balls, and the catcher challenges and it becomes a strike, that hurts for the hitter. But also sometimes you trust your instincts, your guts a little bit more. That's one of the adjustments I probably had to make early on because you know it's a ball, but depending on the situation, maybe if you have one more challenge, it's very different.

I think it was the last game we played, Salas got one wrong early in the game. Now you're trying to save that last one for a bigger spot.

I like it. If it's a ball, it's a ball; if it's a strike, it's a strike. It's great.

Q. Has there been more talk about trying to save more for later in the postseason? Or obviously Salas challenged early there.

XANDER BOGAERTS: I mean, he's been pretty good at it. As I said, you trust your instincts. For the most part he's been right -- a lot of times he's been right but not on that occasion.

But we haven't talked much about it, but I think that comes with the awareness, right? If we lose one early, as a hitter if you're in a 1-0 count and you really want to use it, probably not, and save it for big situation.

Especially if you're winning, if you're winning early on, save it maybe for a pitching decision later on. Who was it that won the other day with a strikeout? The Phillies and the Braves, right? I mean, they won the game because the catcher challenged the last pitch. So that's huge.

Q. What do you make of the season that Fernando has had and kind of the struggles he had early, obviously? But for him to overcome them and be swinging the way he is now, what does it do for you guys as a whole having him like that?

XANDER BOGAERTS: He goes, we go, especially him at the top of the lineup. He's always starting the games for us, having no homers for those amount of games, and then he just hitting them out pretty frequent on an almost every day level. Sometimes he gets two in a game. I mean, it's unbelievable.

That first playoff game at home also, first pitch. Good pitch, too, change-up. It's away. He still got it out. So he's on one of them special runs, kind of reminding me of the run that he had against the Braves in the playoffs. That was pretty good. But he did it now for like the whole second half, which is pretty impressive.

Q. The first World Series you won in Boston, you were a really young player at that time. Ethan has come up and he's obviously contributing to this group. Your thoughts on what it is about Ethan that's allowing him to contribute at this young age?

XANDER BOGAERTS: Yeah, he's in a different position than I am. He's catching. He has to deal with the pitching staff, calling the pitches. He's still got to go up and hit.

I think that's a little bit more impressive than what I did because I mean I played shortstop coming up, but I had to play third base in the playoffs. It's not the same as catching.

One mistake or one challenge -- like someone challenged a 3-0 pitch, strike, then came back, struck out the guy. That was so huge. So, for him, I feel like he has a lot on his shoulders, which I think he carries himself pretty well. He knows how to control all that stuff at a young age, which is really impressive.

I remember when I signed here, I saw him at 16, and I think it was. And, like, this guy seems a little bit more mature for his age. The same with Jackson. I saw both of them at the fan fest. But Ethan was so young and he had a nice presence about him, which was special.

Q. Xander, you've been a part of the last couple of years, two teams that, one was knocked out of the Wild Card round, one was in this round. You haven't been able to proceed past it with the Padres so far. Does anything about this particular group feel different compared to the last couple years?

XANDER BOGAERTS: Maybe we have more younger players. I think that's a little fair to say. We have a lot of guys playing in different roles. Samad and Harris, when a couple of guys went down, they were huge for us. And we've got Bowen coming in there, playing some good defense towards the end of the game if we're winning.

So it's kind of like we kind of know who we're getting, who's coming in or whatever. And they've done a really good job.

And having Gavin back and Miggy back, he's also, once we got him, he's been great especially against lefties.

We have a lot of young guys but also, like, Gavin coming off the bench, he could start on any given night. But coming off the bench with that big homer, I think it's just that we're just so deep. And obviously the pitching is the pitching. That's been pretty steady throughout all the years.