AL DIVISION SERIES: YANKEES VS RAYS

October 7, 2026

Kevin Cash

Yankee Stadium

Tampa Bay Rays

Pregame 3 Press Conference

Q. Kevin, can you just walk us through the thought process with the lineup; Chandler not in there, Vilade and Mesa and Hicks?

KEVIN CASH: Yeah. Look, Fried's numbers against us -- he's pitched very well against us. Figured a little bit more versatility, a little more balance to the lineup rather than loading up all the lefties. I would imagine it's very safe to say or assume that Chandler will play a very big role in this game.

Q. You're as familiar with Caballero's game as anybody. In what ways do you think that he could present problems for you and in what ways do you think that he can impact the game?

KEVIN CASH: I mean, Cabby can impact the game in so many different ways. That's why he's such a good player, defensively, on the bases, the ability to get ahold of one and knock it out of the ballpark or come up with a clutch base hit the other way.

Definitely a winning player and presents a lot of challenges for us and know that he's going to be excited to go in this environment.

Q. What did you see from Liam Hicks since he's come over here getting back to catching every day, learning a pitching staff, calling his own pitches again because he wasn't doing it at Miami? What have you seen from his development since he got here?

KEVIN CASH: Really talented hitter, really talented catcher. Both sides of the ball. I know the catching time had kind of decreased a little bit for whatever decisions. But when he came over to us, we were pretty clear you're going to carry a big workload as a catcher, and the receptiveness that he showed throughout learning our pitchers, learning our pitching staff was really impressive.

Now he's right on point with all of them and a lot of confidence when he's behind the plate.

Q. Is there a good explanation for Mesa's success against leftie pitchers?

KEVIN CASH: I don't know if there's a good explanation. I know his ability to stay on the ball and shoot balls the other way. He picks up a lot of hits against lefties maybe the other way. He'll take a hanging breaking ball and pull up or you'll see him push a fastball the other way for not trying to do too much and pick up line drives to left field. A little different approach than when he's facing a righty, but very balanced.

Q. And sticking with Richie tonight against a leftie, too. He's obviously been getting a lot of bit hits? That was part of it?

KEVIN CASH: I think anytime you come in this ballpark, it's safe to assume teams are trying to avoid lefties sitting in this ballpark given the little bit shorter porch to right field.

And through discussions yesterday, we just talked about let's try to give us the most balanced right-left matchups that we can go, not sure which way they'll go after Fried. Not really thinking about much beyond Fried, because we know how tough he is. So we're going to do everything we can to have some good at-bats on him early.

Q. What have you learned about managing in the postseason having done it now half a dozen?

KEVIN CASH: You guys second guess everything. Yeah. That's what I've learned.

Q. In terms of you running the game in the dugout during the game?

KEVIN CASH: It's different. Everything is magnified. Every decision is probably a little bit sooner than normal than the regular season. I mean, the anxiety and the intensity of the situation, you cannot replicate that during the season, but it's a lot of fun.

Q. When you say everything is a little bit sooner, did you realize that in 2019 or was that acquired knowledge?

KEVIN CASH: No. Look, I've had a lot of help over the years talking to other managers or talking with my front office and people that I really lean on and kind of learned as we went. You can -- until you've kind of lived it a little bit and understood how quickly these decisions come up and how important that fourth inning decision can be, maybe the most important decision of the game comes in the fourth inning.

That's probably not something that you take into the regular season as much because you are playing so many games consecutively. It's a much longer season. Here with the off days, this has been a unique series with the off days.

Q. Are you more drained when you get to the hotel room or home at 1:00 in the morning?

KEVIN CASH: Yeah.

Q. Now than you were in April or May?

KEVIN CASH: Yes, I am.