NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DODGERS VS BREWERS

October 10, 2026

Jacob Misiorowski

Christian Yelich

American Family Field

Milwaukee Brewers

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Mis, to go back to Game 4, were you just warming up, or were you coming -- were you ready to come in the game, or was it just a show?

JACOB MISIOROWSKI: I was ready to go. If they would have called down again and said, Mis, you're in the game, I would have been running out the gates.

Q. Christian, as you think in the bigger picture about the last nine years and the third time meeting the Dodgers in the NLCS, how do you think about the way the organization has changed, the way the expectations have changed, the way your attitude going into tomorrow Game 1 has changed over the course of that period of time?

CHRISTIAN YELICH: I think it's more of just like the expectation to be here at this point. Going into Spring Training and all that, like it's gradually gone from like let's make the playoffs to we're going to make a deep run in the playoffs. Everybody expects to be at this point and to be able to compete at this point.

I think that's where it's evolved over the last 10 years, going from like trying to just get back to the postseason at the beginning of my time here to we've been pretty constant in the postseason with the goals to make the run in the postseason, not just to get there.

Q. Following up on that, how has this team changed over the last 10 years? Obviously you've made a couple of big runs but haven't been able to get over the hump. After talking to you guys in San Diego, you all seem pretty confident that this team is different. How is that?

CHRISTIAN YELICH: I think every team is different. Each year it's a different group of guys. Previous seasons don't really have any impact on the current one and the outcome of previous seasons doesn't -- it has nothing to do with what's going to happen in the upcoming series.

Everybody comes in with a fresh slate and it's about playing well and executing and getting to where you want to go. I think it's just staying present. This is this team's story. What happened 10 years ago with a different team, there's really no impact. There's no correlation to anything going forward. It's all new years, new season. So that's how we look at it.

Q. It probably goes without saying, but how big was winning that NLDS in four games and set yourselves up for this series, set up the pitching staff for this series?

JACOB MISIOROWSKI: Yeah, it was huge. It was huge for our bullpen to pull it together and really do their job and handle business. Like you said, setting up the starting staff was huge, and it gets me, Hendy and the rest of the guys ready to go.

Q. When you think about where you were last year heading into the NLCS compared to this year, what's maybe a difference or two or maybe the biggest difference in yourself now compared to where you were last year heading into this series?

JACOB MISIOROWSKI: I think the only thing is confidence. I think that was the big one. Going into last year's postseason, I didn't know if I was going to be on the roster. I didn't know if I was going to make it and help the team. This year they trust me a little bit more. So it's a little easier to get behind yourself.

Q. When you generate so many strikeouts with your stuff, how hard is it to stay efficient and pitch deep in games? Is it just a matter of attacking the strike zone? How do you get deeper in games than a lot of these starters we see in the postseason?

JACOB MISIOROWSKI: I think that's the way to do it: You attack the zone, try to get weak contact or put them out quick. It doesn't change much from the regular season. You go -- it's just the guys, every at-bat means a little bit more in the postseason. So nothing really changes.

Q. Did you find that last week's start took anything more out of you because it was the postseason, or does it feel the same?

JACOB MISIOROWSKI: No. I think the only thing was I kind of came into it with a little more adrenaline and kind of went at it a little harder than I was hoping. They fouled stuff off. So it kind of just got deeper and deeper. They had a game plan and did their job.

Q. I know you got more mature and more like pitching better this year. But how have you changed your approach to practice and the games based on your experience last year? You were really new last year in this stage.

JACOB MISIOROWSKI: I don't think I've changed much. The only thing I changed was working on pitch command outside of bullpens and stuff and working on more flat-ground stuff at 60 feet and trusting myself in zone and trying to pound the middle as much as I can and trust that it will stay in zone and not move out, help you strike the ball and be in zone more.

Q. What allows this lineup to score so many runs without hitting relatively many home runs?

CHRISTIAN YELICH: I think it's just being dynamic and not being one dimensional. Obviously we're not incapable of hitting a home run. We hit a few in the previous series and throughout the year.

But I wouldn't say that's our main way of scoring. I think it's just quality at-bats throughout the lineup. Everybody's pretty athletic. They can run, take extra bases, command the strike zone, and execute when you're in situations.

It's about playing the game of baseball, trying to score more runs than the other team. Obviously I know that sounds like, yeah, pretty obvious, but it's still the game of baseball. It's not who hits more home runs or who scores more runs. It's executing. It's moving runners, taking extra bases, getting on base. That's been our philosophy since Spring Training and for the last few years, and we hold each other accountable to that.

It's just the way we've played. Try to apply constant pressure and just take good quality at-bats.

Q. We know you like those moments against the best hitters on the other side, you like the adrenaline that comes with that. I'm curious how you view a matchup against one of the best pitchers on the other side you're not directly facing, but going head-to-head in a different way in Skubal?

JACOB MISIOROWSKI: Like I said countless times before, when I face Skenes or any guy like that, I'm not really looking at them, I'm looking at the lineup more than him.

For me personally, it doesn't really mean that much to face a guy like that. Obviously it's cool. The dude's insane. But I'm just hoping that these guys can do their job and handle business with him and let me do my thing and try to get that side taken care of.

Q. Christian, for you, the starting rotation for L.A. has some similarity with Snell and Yamamoto likely and then the difference is with Skubal. Offensively, what can we expect as far as your guys' approach given that you have seen these guys in Snell and Yamamoto one postseason ago?

CHRISTIAN YELICH: Every night when you play these guys, you know you're going to face a great pitcher, a Cy Young-caliber pitcher. It's the reason why they've been so good as a team is just how deep their rotation is and how many options they have.

When you face guys like that, you have to take advantage of opportunities. You have to create opportunities. You understand like there's not going to be probably a lot of scoring opportunities. So when you do get them, you have to be able to execute and take advantage of that and really lock it in.

They're great pitchers for a reason, and we've got some great pitchers on our side. It's the postseason. Those are the guys you're going to face at this time of the year, especially the deeper you get into it. We're looking forward to a good matchup.

Like I said earlier, it's well documented how it went last year for us, but I feel like what happened last year and going forward to this year, it's a completely different season. It's different games. You've got to go play these ones. What's happened before doesn't really have an impact on what's going to happen going forward.

Q. People are always paying attention to what your velocity readings are every time you pitch, but it seemed like earlier this season it was particularly a kind of phenomenon where you're being asked about it constantly. Did you have to guard against getting caught up in that and having to pitch against that reputation? And did you have to make any adaptations to make sure you're going to be at your best this time of year?

JACOB MISIOROWSKI: Of course you had to pull yourself back and try to not do that every single pitch and actually play the game of baseball and not just try to throw a ball hard.

No, going into this time of year, that's what I trained for in the off-season years prior. That's kind of just what I naturally do. So there's not much prep into that and more just honing yourself back just that tad bit to not try to push every pitch to that max intent.

Q. Murph likes to talk a lot, at least to us, about we're just the little Brewers and the Dodgers have all the brand-name stars and they get all the attention. Is that a schtick that he does with you guys too, or is that just to entertain us? What do you guys think when you hear stuff like that?

CHRISTIAN YELICH: I think it's just to mess with you guys honestly. Murph likes to do that. It's well documented how good of a team they are, how many great players they have, how many future Hall of Famers are on their side. It's not to say we don't have great players. They just have guys who have done it for longer and have pretty established Major League careers and have had a lot of success.

They're back-to-back champs for a reason. We have a ton of respect for them. But at the same time, we're going to go out there and compete with them. You're playing for a chance to go to a World Series. You don't need much more motivation than that regardless of who you're playing.

Obviously we respect them. We respect everything they've done in the game, how they go about the game. You can't say enough great things about them, but at the same time, we're ready to compete with them. You know going into the season if you want to get to where you need to go, you're probably going to have to go and play these guys.

So we're not surprised to be in this situation and in this series with them. I think that's what you kind of expect when the postseason starts, when the season starts, and we're looking forward to it. We want to play the best. And they've certainly been that the last few years. So it's going to be a great series.

Q. A little bit of a follow-up, last year you had five really strong innings in Game 3 of the NLCS, but you came in on that one. How did that situation or what did you do to prep you for big starts like this in the NLCS and what you've done already so far in the postseason?

JACOB MISIOROWSKI: I think it just gave me confidence in my abilities, and being able to eat five innings and hopefully have a start where I can eat more innings. I think it's more just confidence and capability in myself to do my job and go out there and perform the way I want to.

Q. Jacob, Shohei has struggled a little bit lately. Does that change how you pitch to him at all?

JACOB MISIOROWSKI: No, no. You can't change how a guy's been -- it's still October. They're going to find a way to get a bat on ball and get on base how they can. You got to still pitch like he's the best in the world and trust your stuff and go beat him at his game and do your job.

Q. Yeli, when you look back to August, when you won this series in L.A. 3 out of 4, would you say that was a turning point for the team? What did you see after that series that led you guys to this point?

CHRISTIAN YELICH: I don't know. For us as a team, just like we were kind of -- we weren't really grinding, but we were kind of playing a little up and down at the time. We were banged up, guys hurt.

I don't think regular season series have any impact on the postseason series, just because they're different, how teams approach them are different, pitching's lined up different.

For us personally as a team, we were just trying to get back on track at that point. We were coming off a San Diego series where we just didn't play well, and we got swept down there. Then you're going to play these guys for four games in August, and we just had to right the ship a little bit.

You can't take much, I don't think, from regular season results other than like just the games were competitive and you know that's going to be the case here going forward.

Q. This being your third crack at the Dodgers in this round and you've faced them in other rounds in the playoffs during your time here, I know you said that what's happened in the past has no bearing on this year. When you look through the history of sports, there's lots of examples of a team finally breaking through by finally beating a nemesis they've come up against in multiple years. Does it almost seem inevitable that for you guys to get where you want to go, you're going to have to beat the Dodgers?

CHRISTIAN YELICH: Yeah, it's kind of like I said earlier, if you're expecting to go to the World Series on the NL side, you're going to have to go through these guys until somebody proves different. That's the standard they've set the last few years.

Like I said, it's a credit to them for being a great team and finding ways to win these types of games. Like I said, we've been expecting having to play them in this round since Spring Training, in the regular season. You kind of just know that's what's going to happen.

Nobody on our side in our room is surprised that's who we're going up against. Like I said, they have great players and so do we. We're looking forward to a really good series.

Q. Jacob, from a pitcher's point of view and a second-year player's point of view, what did you think when the team named Christian captain, even though it's a hitter and pitcher? Can you think of a time when he's influenced you or you've seen his influence?

JACOB MISIOROWSKI: There's been countless times I've been down on myself. Like last year I didn't have a great stretch at the end, and we had multiple talks in the dugout and the clubhouse of stuff like that, like hey, figure it out. We trust you. Just do your thing. He just does that for all the guys. So it's easy to call him captain.

It's awesome that we had the opportunity to do that for him. Obviously I hope it means a lot for him. It means a lot for this team. So it's really fun. It's awesome.

CHRISTIAN YELICH: Thanks, man.

Q. Going off the earlier question about how last year with us Murph played up that underdog card pretty heavily and who knows what he's going to do here in 30 minutes or whatnot. I'm curious how you guys view yourselves in this series, whether it's underdog or on the same footing?

CHRISTIAN YELICH: Look, if you want to play who's favored in this series, it's probably not us, but it doesn't matter. It's the same thing we talk about in Spring Training when we're the team that's never picked to win the division or be a postseason team. It doesn't matter what people -- who people say is favored or not favored because you have to go play the games.

No matter what people say. If people were saying that we're a great team, you still have to go win the games and play the games. And the same goes for them, like they have to play the games and win the games.

That's kind of how we look at it as a team. It doesn't matter what the commentary is surrounding the series or the teams or who's the favorite, who's the underdog. It's going to be decided on the field if we're going to prove who's worthy of going to the World Series in the next week or so.

Like I said, it's going to be a great series. They're a great team. We're a great team. We believe in ourselves and our group, and that's kind of how we're looking at it.

Q. Christian, California natives who come here and stay here, whether it's Robin Yount, Braun, even the owners from California, what makes the place so special where guys don't want to leave?

CHRISTIAN YELICH: I think it's just the kind of family environment around the team, where everybody really cares for each other and enjoys being around each other. That's from ownership on down. They take care of the players, their families, the guys on the team are friends. The community supports the team. The fan base has been amazing.

I think I was talking about it in San Diego after we won and there was some questions, but it was just cool to see the joy that the team's performance brings the people in the city and the state and how awesome it was after Jackson's walk-off in Game 2. Like you could just see the genuine joy of people and how happy that made them, just seeing like their reactions and stuff like that was really cool.

You understand that your performance as a team like directly impacts the happiness of the people in the state, in the city, and you don't take that for granted. It's been awesome playing here. I've really loved it the last nine years and looking forward to more. That's why these postseason runs are so special. You hope to keep it going.