AL DIVISION SERIES: WHITE SOX VS GUARDIANS

October 4, 2026

Stephen Vogt

Progressive Field

Cleveland Guardians

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. What do you guys do to put yesterday in the rearview mirror or how do you feel everyone is coming in today and responding from that one?

STEPHEN VOGT: Yeah. It was one game. We've lost a lot of games this year, and we've bounced back the next day or day after. Obviously would have loved to have won Game 1. I think anybody would want to say that. We still like where we're at. We still have a great opportunity ahead of us to even the series tomorrow and go to Chicago with a chance to win it.

Q. We've seen Kay a couple times this year, what stood out to you about him in those ones?

STEPHEN VOGT: We have seen Kay I think at his best. He kind of throws really well against us. Even a day like yesterday, fastball is up around 99. He's got the cutter that crowds our righties. He's got the different off-speed pitches with good speed differential. He's pitched really well against us. We don't know how long he's going to go tomorrow, but we'll be prepared for it.

Q. You guys have had your back against the wall for a couple of weeks at the end of the regular season. Does it help when the playoffs, everything is heightened that one game doesn't go your way, there is pressure on and these guys have dealt with it?

STEPHEN VOGT: Yeah. Again when you're dealing with a five game series, it's great to get a lead and get the first game, but we still have our opportunity. That's why you have five games to do it, and we feel really good about the way we're playing. We felt really good coming in. Yesterday we got beat. That's the truth.

Q. How difficult is it to game plan for multiple starting pitchers, knowing you're going to face multiple starting pitchers and maybe not necessarily knowing when that's going to be in the game?

We talked to Steven Kwan, and he mentioned that you guys have seen all of these guys multiple times this year already and that sort of helps?

STEPHEN VOGT: Yeah. I think we know all of their pitchers, and they know all of ours. How they're deployed, we have no idea. Again, we didn't get surprised by the way they deployed yesterday, but you just don't know how long they kind of have the ability and so do we to have people go as long or as short as you need them to, and that's why it's all hands on deck for both teams in the bullpens.

For us, we know their pitchers. It's just a matter of when we see them come out, we are prepared for them, and our guys can hit any of them, and we just have to be ready to go.

Q. How important was it to get all your relievers at least a little bit of work yesterday?

STEPHEN VOGT: Yeah. Again, we were deploying to win the game, to keep it close. And I thought the bullpen did an excellent job. I thought Parker did an excellent job. You hold them to three runs. That gives you a pretty good chance to win.

I thought we pitched well. We just weren't able to get anything going offensively.

Q. What do you make of what Martínez has done for you guys this year? He was on the bobble toward the end there and then he ends up as your team leader in home runs?

STEPHEN VOGT: He's had an excellent year. You wish you could see where his numbers would be without the injury. For Ángel, we challenged him last year left-handed, and he's been a great left-handed hitter, and obviously we know what he can do right-handed.

He's really brought a good switch hitter in the middle of that order to kind of protect some guys and really been a threat from both sides of the plate. Really proud of Ángel and the year he's put together and looking forward to watching him for a few more weeks.

Q. Has there been any advancements mentally?

STEPHEN VOGT: He's confident. He's sure of himself. You see the maturity in the at-bats over the course of the year. Still early in the year, he was kind of just swinging to swing and now we're seeing him work counts, seeing him walk a few times more than usual the last few weeks.

And obviously he's had some huge at-bats and big hits. And even just the move to the corner outfield spots, he's really owned both of those and done a nice job.

Q. What did you make of the at-bats yesterday and like the swing decisions? Lowe was saying after the game that that's something that you could probably tighten up, that was uncharacteristic maybe?

STEPHEN VOGT: Yeah. You know, I think you could probably pick out some areas where we had some really good quality at-bats and then pick out some areas where we didn't. And I think that can happen in a game.

The reality is is those guys yesterday threw some really good stuff at us, and we chased a little bit more and put some balls in play that maybe we didn't want to or took some pitches that maybe we shouldn't have been swinging at. That happens.

The difference with the postseason is every game is so heightened, and it is. It should be. So we've rereviewed it. We've looked at it, and now we're going to make it an adjustment and game plan. And for our hitters, just go battle, be ready to compete and go compete against their pitcher and stay within yourself.

Q. Does that ninth inning stand out just looking for one for example?

STEPHEN VOGT: I mean, the ninth inning, you have to tip your cap to Grant Taylor and the way he threw the ball and the shadows, and there's a bunch of different -- a lot of elements. Their hitters were dealing with the shadows the last couple innings, too, so that definitely plays into it.

You get to that ninth inning, it's really hard. Those last three outs are really tough to get, and it's really tough to battle back, and that's why the ninth inning is so tough.

Q. Gavin has had some pretty memorable at-bats facing the White Sox during the season, even if the results weren't necessarily the way you wanted to see them. If he gets into an 18 pitch at-bat again, what's the messaging maybe? What are you thinking when that's going on?

STEPHEN VOGT: Yeah. You think back to the Vargas in the rain, Tristan Peters the 18 pitch at-bat, I mean, these are two really good teams going at it, and there's going to be some good battles.

As a baseball fan, you love it. As a manager, you hate it. That's kind of the way it goes. The reality is these are two very equally talented teams that know each other really well that have battled back and forth all year, and I don't expect that to change, and we're really happy that Gavin is taking the ball because he is a big-time pitcher for us.

Q. He said he would probably have walked Peters a little earlier if he'd have known?

STEPHEN VOGT: You always look back and go, man, if if I'd have just walked him on the seventh pitch instead of the 18th, but I'm looking forward to a couple of battles tomorrow for sure.

Q. With the strategy to start Messick and Gavin in the second game, can you go over that?

STEPHEN VOGT: Just they've been our two best pitchers. And obviously like we talked about with Parker, he was going to be on regular rest, which he's pitched really well. And Gavin has had experience with a little bit of extra rest. He said he touched the mound. Just made sense for him to get a mound touch in a simulated game in between. So that's the way we felt like we wanted to line it up.