NL DIVISION SERIES: BRAVES VS DODGERS

October 3, 2026

Walt Weiss

Dodger Stadium

Atlanta Braves

Pregame 1 Press Conference

Q. Congratulations on getting here. There's been some talk about the heat. I know your reaction is just going to be pretend like it's not hot, but do you sort of monitor guys a little bit? Do you worry about it? Is it dangerous? Does it change the way you manage how your guys play the game?

WALT WEISS: Remember, we're from Atlanta. No, it's not that big of a factor. Obviously, particularly with your pitching, I think you watch guys. I think there could be an effect there. He's in there for a while and he's grinding, it could be a factor. Other than that, I wouldn't overthink it.

Q. When you made your decision for Dodd, I know you weighed a couple different left-handers, what set him apart?

WALT WEISS: He's been a starter. He can go multiple innings, like having that option. That was the same option the other night with Ray Kerr. I didn't know how far Ray was going to go. I thought maybe an inning. If needed he had the capability of going multiples, and he did because he was throwing the ball well.

Similar with Dodd. He can go multiple innings if things are going well, and it's a nice option to have instead of just having a guy to go one inning.

Q. I'm just wondering if you have any feelings or emotions being back here after 1988?

WALT WEISS: You couldn't wait to bring that up, could you?

(Laughter.)

Q. I couldn't.

WALT WEISS: I've been here a lot since then. I think it's diminished somewhat. If this was my first time back since then, heck yeah, it would be tough, but I've been here 12,000 times since '88. No, I'm good, man.

Q. In 2021 you guys had to patch the pitching together in the World Series and at various points during that postseason run. Do you draw upon that experience of helping Snit kind of manage maybe an abnormal-type pitching situation now that you're having to do something similar this year?

WALT WEISS: I think that we've seen it in action before helps. I was part of those conversations as a bench coach. I think it helps to a degree. We've seen it work. So it brings you some comfort when you've had to do stuff like this before.

Yeah, I think the experience with anything helps. The fact that we did it and it went pretty well in '21, I think it gives you more conviction.

Q. Obviously you'd love to have four Chris Sales starting every game, but for you as a skipper, is there something enjoyable or intellectually interesting about having to kind of figure this out where you're really having to manage a lot of these games?

WALT WEISS: Yeah, I don't know if I'd choose it as my first option, but a lot of it is you try to script it before the game. Most bullpen moves are made before the game; they're not made in game. But you still have to watch the game.

In the final analysis, the game has the most say. So I think you just have to do what the game's dictating. It was that way the other night. I didn't know what we were going to necessarily do after Ray Kerr. It helps when they all pitch well. Everything falls into place. When it goes sideways, you've got to readjust.

No, it could be difficult navigating it when you're running a bullpen game, but you go with what you have.

Q. What went into the decision to leave Dom off the roster for this round?

WALT WEISS: It's a tough one for us because Dom has meant a lot to this club. Heck, he played our last game. He started against Nola, got a couple hits.

We like the long ball threat of Rowdy. Rowdy's got good history with some of the pitchers on their staff. But it was a tough one. That was a difficult one. I think the world of Dom. Like I said, he's been a big part of this club physically and emotionally.

But he's here with us. He's a pro. He's great. That's what went into that.

Q. For a Game 2 tomorrow, do you wait until tomorrow morning, check with Chris Sale before making a decision?

WALT WEISS: Everything is going to be day-to-day in the postseason. Especially after throwing bullpen games, that's going to affect what you do the next day. We just threw a bullpen game. But a lot of it comes down to how Chris Sale is feeling.

We're going to let him run around -- again, this has all happened very quickly. We celebrated Thursday night, we're on a plane early Friday, got here last night. We haven't really had a whole lot of meeting time.

The deciding factor is always going to be how Chris is feeling. Now, to me it's not that big a deal when he pitches. He's going to pitch in this series. Dodgers can't win it in two. So he's going to pitch. It really doesn't matter when.

Yeah, when we came in the other night, the first words out of his mouth were "I feel amazing." If he were to come in tomorrow morning and say "I feel amazing," there's a chance he pitches tomorrow.

Q. Do you see Grant being your bulk guy, or is it just kind of for today or --

WALT WEISS: Probably not. Not saying he won't pitch. Look, I don't know how this is going to go. The other night, he was our bulk guy. He threw two innings because the game dictated something else. So we may or may not have a bulk guy, and if we do put in our bulk guy, the same thing might happen. He might go two innings.

We have options for bulk guys. That's not a problem. Again, the game will dictate what we do.

Q. And when you made the decision for Lane, obviously he's 0 for 7, five strikeouts regular season, he does have the grand slam. Did you think about that?

WALT WEISS: With Lane, it was more about he hasn't been playing. Didn't want to throw him right into the fire like that. He hasn't played. Wanted to give him a day to run around out there. We'll face another lefty tomorrow. Good chance he'll be in there tomorrow. We wanted to give him a day to get acclimated instead of throwing him right into Game 1 the first day he's available.

I talked to him. I let him know before I put the lineup out. That's really what was the deciding factor with Lane.

Q. There was some thought that Yamamoto might be the Game 1 starter. I'm guessing you're not terribly surprised they're going with two lefties for Game 1 and 2?

WALT WEISS: We're used to it. Everyone lines up their lefties against us. It's happened all year. It's happened with starters. It's happened with the opposing bullpen. Even during the year, they'd call up lefties for the series. So we're pretty used to this.

We feel like we've handled it relatively well throughout the course of the year. Our left-handed hitters are pretty good. They're pretty good against lefties, especially when you start talking about Olson and Baldwin, Michael Harris. Those guys have had quite a bit of success against left-handed pitching this year.

Q. Just wanted to follow up real quick on what you said on Sale that it doesn't really matter when he pitches in this series, he's going to pitch anyway. Is there not more of an emphasis to put him in Game 2 so he lines up on four days' rest for Game 5, or do you not see that as a realistic thing?

WALT WEISS: I wouldn't say it's unrealistic, but even if he throws Game 3, I think he's still available for Game 5 in some way, shape, or form.

Q. For those of us that don't see you guys every day, could you explain right now how the back end of your bullpen sets up. We've obviously heard Iglesias for years, but now Suarez, Fuentes, I guess the other night Chris.

WALT WEISS: You just named it all. You've got it figured out, man. Iggy's been our closer. He's been great for us. He's been a great closer in this league for a long time. Fuentes, Dylan Lee, Suarez, Dylan Dodd at times was in that mix this year because he ended up coming on real strong. We used him when some of the other guys were down during the regular season in some of the high-leverage stuff.

It's been a good back end of our bullpen. It's been our strength. Ironically in the Phillies series, our bullpen late in the game struggled really for the first time for the most part this year.

Dylan Lee giving up the back-to-back homers, took a lot of heat for that one. Dylan Lee is getting that inning 100 out of 100 times. It was on a tee for him. Dylan Lee at times has been one of the best left-handed relievers in all of baseball this year. Struggled at times in the second half, but we gave him a lot of rest in September, and we saw that his stuff was back the day before Game 2 against the Phillies. In Game 1, he dominated that part of the lineup the day before. He looked like vintage Dylan Lee.

So Dylan Lee is going to get big innings again in this series.

The back end of our bullpen, our bullpen overall has been our most consistent strength throughout the entire season. I leaned on them heavily early in the season when I wasn't sure exactly what we had in the rotation. Those guys are starters that ended up establishing themselves as the year went on and got longer leashes. Early on I was going to the bullpen because I knew our bullpen was really good and we won a lot of games doing that. So yeah, our bullpen has been our strength.