NL DIVISION SERIES: BRAVES VS DODGERS

October 3, 2026

Dave Roberts

Dodger Stadium

Los Angeles Dodgers

Postgame 1 Press Conference

Dodgers - 5, Braves - 3

Q. Dave, can you just give us a recap of the game, how you felt about Skubal today?

DAVE ROBERTS: I thought Tarik was fantastic. I thought the fastball was really good. Murphy clipped him, ball above the zone with two strikes, but I thought the change-up today was really effective, kept them off balance. Slider was good. I thought Will did a fantastic job with them and obviously probably the hottest game he's pitched in.

To go through six in these conditions I thought was fantastic, and I thought the bullpen did a fine job.

Q. After you took out Scott, you went to Phillips. Is Roki not available then? Is that just the pecking order now? Did you want to use Roki in like a clean inning?

DAVE ROBERTS: I just felt like once we -- I had Scott going for -- or I had Evan going for Dubón at the outset, just kind of getting a move in, and if something happened, to get him out of it. I don't feel -- I felt more comfortable with Evan potentially coming into an inning versus Roki.

Q. And kind of what happened in the ninth inning, does that kind of change your calculus and how you deal with the ninth inning moving forward?

DAVE ROBERTS: No, I don't think so. I thought we had Acuna, and then he puts together a good at-bat, and then Albies hits a first pitch fast cutter, slider, whatever it is, for a homer. I thought the stuff was good, so I'm not going to waver on that one.

Q. With the momentum that Kyle had coming into the postseason and then to have that two-run homer, what can that do for a player's kind of presence at the plate in the postseason?

DAVE ROBERTS: It does a lot. I think that we all know -- it's been well talked about -- the struggles he had this year. I give him a lot of credit for grinding through it, not running from it, always posting and kind of getting to the other side of it.

Obviously for us it's about winning a championship. Our fans, they really remember what you do in the postseason. So this is certainly a way to change the story for a season in 2026.

Q. With a really strong outing that Tarik had, I know you guys like to say that the regular season is different from the postseason. How much of this was really a tone setter for you guys, this win and then obviously the pitching on the mound?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, it was. To win Game 1 is certainly important, very important. Like I said earlier, we could have deployed our starters any way we wanted, but to have Blake going tomorrow to follow up with what Tarik did today and knowing that you got Yama in the holster for Game 3, we're in a good spot. It all starts with winning Game 1.

What Teo did today, big hit. Max hits a homer. Kyle obviously we talked about. Just getting some guys -- I thought Mookie took some good at-bats and Freddie came to life. I thought Shohei looked fine today as far as process.

So there were some good things that we -- like you said, I do think that momentum is certainly in our favor.

Q. Why is Teo so good in big moments?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think Teo is good in big moments because he's not afraid to fail. I think he has a short memory in the sense of, if something doesn't go well, he has a way to just kind of reset, recalibrate. I think he just focuses a little bit more.

He earned that count -- taking a couple pitches, getting a slider that was a good pitch to hit, and then did what he needed to do. I think not being afraid to fail. I think the focus is another part of it.

Q. Just to be clear on Tanner's role tonight, did you have him targeted for the Acuna, Albies, Olson portion, or was it the ninth inning that you were targeting for him today?

DAVE ROBERTS: It was more -- yeah, I think it was more with the lead we had, knowing that it was going to bleed into some lefties, I felt good about that run. If it was the eighth inning, I would have probably used him there. It was more about probably the lane and the game score.

Q. In '24 Freddie had that bad ankle, but early in the playoffs, he stretched a double into a triple, and everyone was kind of shocked by it. Should we read anything into the idea that he didn't try to stretch that single into a double today?

DAVE ROBERTS: No, we talked about. I thought it was a smart, heady play in the sense that the ball is in front of you. Yeah, it's two out, but you don't want to just run into outs. But I think his body is feeling good. I thought it was a smart base-running play there because they forced the stop and they got it in quickly.

Q. Before the game, Blake said that he didn't think that he was going to get so close with Tarik Skubal, they were just teammates like, hey, what's up, passing kind of thing. But now he realized how much respect they have for each other and they have their little jokes on social media. As a manager, what is it like seeing two talented guys get together so well, and just pitch in rotation like they are and just being able to manage them?

DAVE ROBERTS: It's great. I think they've kind of forged their own relationship. There's a sharing of trade secrets. They're two of the best pitchers -- not only left-handed pitchers, but pitchers in the game. So how they talk about attacking hitters, what makes them good, I think that only sharpens the knife.

It's fun to watch their back-and-forth and how their relationship has really blossomed.