NL DIVISION SERIES: PADRES VS BREWERS

October 5, 2026

Manny Machado

Petco Park

San Diego Padres

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Manny, it's obviously a tough task to win three in a row in the DS, but what are the characteristics that your teammates have, that you have in this clubhouse, that you think could allow you guys to do this?

MANNY MACHADO: Definitely a task, unfortunately down 2-0. Not the ideal position you want to be in. But these boys, this group, we've been up against the wall all year. A lot of people didn't think we would be in this position to begin with, and here we are. We've overcome a lot as a group, and we've learned a lot throughout the season.

To believe in a group that could overcome this is the 26 guys in there that fought all year to be in this position. Get out there, play some good baseball, play baseball like we've been playing and overcome adversity like we have been.

Q. Have you felt like these two teams are pretty evenly matched? If so, what's kind of the key differences that you think could help you guys win these next ones?

MANNY MACHADO: They got the big hit when it counted. We haven't been able to get that big hit. Obviously we've been scoring first. We just couldn't really get over the hump and get there.

Obviously yesterday we had our best guy on the mound, and they got a big hit off of it. It's been two great games. It could have been completely different. We could have been on the opposite side of it. Hey, it's baseball, and here we are.

I think the group in there is confident in each other. We're confident in the group we have. We're confident in how we've been playing. Just got to turn it up a little bit.

Q. What's the challenge with Dustin May, a guy that you guys have seen a lot and he's seen you guys a lot?

MANNY MACHADO: What's the challenge?

Q. Just facing a pitcher you've seen so often, the cat-and-mouse game of that?

MANNY MACHADO: At the end of the day, we've got to control what we can control, stick to our strengths. Yeah, obviously we've had some history with May, but we've got to stick to our strengths, stick to what we've been doing.

Again, ultimately it's about getting that big hit in those big moments, and if we can, we'll be all right. Our game plan going in there is like we've been game planning the whole series. We've been having great at-bats as a team. We just can't get those extra runs across, so kind of focus on that.

Q. Him as a pitcher, is there much difference between who he is now versus before surgery? I'm sure there is, but would you mind sharing any of those if there are?

MANNY MACHADO: I think he's the same. I don't think there's anything different. He's a good pitcher.

Q. You were here when Ty was here the first time around. For him to have kind of grown into this type of player and the contributor he's been this season, what have you seen from him this year that's kind of impressed you the most?

MANNY MACHADO: Just everything, honestly. He got a Gold Glove, first baseman. He solidified our first base there and made us a really elite defense. The presence that he brings, the character he is, the person he is, it's just he's an unbelievable teammate. So for him to come back here and have the historical year, career year for himself, it's awesome to see. It's awesome to be a part of.

Saw him when he first got here, played third base, had to move to first. Then we had Hoffmann over there at the time, so he kind of didn't have anywhere to play, but we knew the bat was there always. Now we fast-forward a couple years, and here he is again showing what -- we knew what he was, and you see it this year.

Q. Manny, you've had an opportunity to play alongside Nick Pivetta the last couple of seasons. Your thoughts on having Nick in particular on the mound in a win-or-go-home game like this here in Game 3?

MANNY MACHADO: I believe in everyone in there, and I think we all believe in each other. Whoever takes the mound, whoever takes the ball, whoever steps up to the plate, I think we all believe in each other and we can do the job. That's just the way we live.

It's not going to be any different tomorrow when we come out there and take that field. Obviously just like Milwaukee, they love playing at home, one of the best home teams in the game. We play pretty well at home as well. So we're going to go out there, and we're going to bring it. I know the fans are going to bring it as well.

I know Nick is too.

Q. I don't know if you saw David Ortiz's comments yesterday, but a lot of people are counting this team out and saying you guys can't get it done winning three in a row. What would your response be to that?

MANNY MACHADO: I don't respond to anything. I just know that the group is -- we're ready for a fight to get to where we want to get to, to win the biggest trophy in our game. It's not an easy job. It's a tough road. You got to deal with a lot of adversity.

I will say this group has -- those aren't the first comments that we've heard about us this year. It's been all year from everyone. But here we are once again with our backs against the wall. We've overcome it once, and we can do it again, and we're going to do it again. Just a matter of going out there and doing our job and focusing on what we can control and go out there and play some good baseball again.

Q. Manny, you've used the term several times in your tenure here about we really like to compete. We're just about competing. What does that mean, and what does that mean where you find yourselves right now? Is it like problem solving during the game? What does that mean?

MANNY MACHADO: What does competing mean?

Q. When you say that, we're all about competing.

MANNY MACHADO: I mean, that's the name of the game for sure. We all compete. We competed in the last two games, and we came up short. It's the name of the game. It's the name of every game in sports when you go out there. You compete, you battle, and you leave it on the field.

Unfortunately, just like everything in the world, there's a winner, and there's a loser, and we've been on the opposite side of that. Coming back home, we're going to try to flip that and be on the winning side of it.

Q. You mentioned home. Do you have any knowledge about 1984 when the Padres played the Cubs? First two games went against them. They came home, the fans went crazy. Garry Templeton went crazy, and it all turned around.

MANNY MACHADO: My man Barry here told me about it. I heard all about it. He educated me on it. I did not know until he told me.

Listen, man, sports is a crazy game. Sports is a crazy game. A lot of crazy things could happen especially this time of the year. Again, I believe in the group that we have in there. They're a resilient group that loves to fight, that loves to compete. We're going to leave it out there until we can't anymore.

Again, it's not -- it's been done before. '84, Big Papi, right? Down 3-0, impossible. It's sports, right? It's sports. Anything is possible in this game. You've just got to go out there and leave it on the field, compete. Again, man, I think this group has been doing it all year, and we're going to continue to do it.

Q. You've talked about the team's resilience. That's kind of been one of the key characteristics of this group. How do you think that developed during the course of the season? What led that to become such a clear part of this team's identity?

MANNY MACHADO: Fuel. We knew what type of group we had. We knew what type of baseball we were playing, which was not great, but we knew we were better than that. The outside noise -- we're not going to make it, you're not going to do this, the Padres suck -- we knew that was all fake and not reality.

As a group, we just took that to fuel, and we ran with it, and we got better. We performed. We stepped up, and here we are today. It's nothing different. We're going to go out there, and we're going to compete. We've got the guy we want on the mound in front of our home crowd going tomorrow.

I mean, I couldn't ask for a better group of guys to go out to war than those guys that are down there preparing for that game tomorrow and moving forward.

Q. Just back to Pivetta a little bit, on a more personal level, watching what he went through all season recovering from that injury and about two months ago it didn't even look like he was going to be able to come back, to have him on the mound with the whole season on his shoulders, it has to be very encouraging and a big thing for you guys, doesn't it?

MANNY MACHADO: I wouldn't ask for a better guy on the mound tomorrow. Game on the line, the energy that he brings, the passion that he brings to pitching, obviously what he's dealt with all year, wanting to be there. If anyone knows Nick, they know that this guy wants to take the mound, wants the ball every five days, doesn't want to miss time, whatever it takes to go out there and compete. He's one of the best competitors we have in our game.

For him not to be able to do that all season, it kind of hurt him, but at the same time, it fueled him to get to this position. So to have that person, that Nick take the mound tomorrow with the game on the line, I think he's going to be riding a lot of people, not just ourselves in that clubhouse, but the whole city to continue to fight and to continue to try to reach our goal.

This is just the first step of a lot of obstacles that we've got to overcome. To win a championship, it ain't easy. It's extremely hard. Baseball is extremely hard. You've got to overcome all these adversities, overcome all these obstacles that are getting put in your way.

Again, we're playing a really good team on the other side. It's been a back-and-forth fight with them. It's been a great competition to take the field with them over there. Now they're coming to our house, and we've got to step up and do our job, and Nick is the right guy for that.

Q. If it wasn't so hard, everybody would do it, as they said in that famous movie, right?

MANNY MACHADO: Absolutely. That's great.