NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DODGERS VS BREWERS

October 11, 2026

Dave Roberts

American Family Field

Los Angeles Dodgers

Postgame 1 Press Conference

Brewers - 2, Dodgers - 1

Q. Will seemed to be fighting it a little bit. Is there anything you can do to help him maybe move up and down in the order, do something that way?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, I think there's always lineup construction. I can think through -- yeah, he's not swinging the bat well. Yeah, we'll see. I just -- it's hard because the body of work, and he just has that knack to get a hit, to get a big hit. You also have to kind of think about who you want to place and do I want to flip him and Teo?

It's a fair question, but right now I still like him at the top of the order.

Q. It seems that you have few options there because he knows the pitching staff. Pitching is so important to you. And Hunter really doesn't. Hunter really doesn't know the pitching staff the way Will does. If Will's struggling, he still needs to be in there to handle the pitches. Is that fair?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, I'm not going to put Feduccia in place of Will Smith. That's just not going to happen.

Q. Similar to Sale, what did you see from your lineup on how they were able to draw out pitches, work long at-bats against Misiorowski?

DAVE ROBERTS: I thought we did a great job verse Misiorowski to get him out when we did, to get the pitch count up. He obviously made a couple pitches to get two double plays to kind of limit damage, which were huge obviously. I think the approach, how we went about it, was fantastic. We saw their four leverage guys tonight, and we just couldn't muster anything.

I guess the only solace is you got them in the game, you got to take a look. We just know that if there's any chance for them to win the game, we're going to see those guys. Hopefully in a long series it could prove to be beneficial the more times we see them.

Q. Did you feel like the quality at-bats tapered off when Mis left the game?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think a little bit. I thought -- Uribe's got really good stuff. Hall gets the double play ball, and then Ashby, I thought we could have done a little bit better job. He went two innings and really didn't break a sweat.

I thought we did a really good job against Megill. Mookie put together a nice at-bat. De Paula, Tucker put together a nice at-bat. We had the tying run on second base, the winning run on first. And he squared it up right at the center fielder.

If I had to poke holes, probably the Ashby two innings we could have maybe done a little bit better.

Q. You talked about this a little bit before the game, but the way they pushed the go-ahead run in with the single, the sacrifice move over, and then the ground ball, is that kind of what you're talking about about that brand of baseball with the athleticism and speed they have?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, they're willing to give up an out to get a guy in scoring position to get a hit. Lara came up with a big hit right there, which proved to be the difference. They try to hit and run with Scoobs, I think it was, at one point. They tried to hit to the off-field, which Chourio did his last at-bat.

Obviously they play really good defense and turning a couple of really nice double plays, and even the first play of the game, Turang makes a really good play going to his right.

Q. It probably goes without saying, but what's the importance of moving past this one and the level of confidence with Yamamoto on the mound?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think they've got Henderson, we've got Yamamoto. We feel good with our guy, feel good about the ability to prevent runs. Henderson is a really good young pitcher. He had his way with us I think at our place, maybe here as well.

Yeah, you can't go into a long series against a team that has the best record in baseball and expect to just win four. It's going to be a long series. We knew it coming in. We had our chances, but they made plays, pitches when they needed to. We've just got to reset. We've got our guy going tomorrow, who we trust undoubtedly, and we've got to win a baseball game.

Q. Can you talk about the decision to go ahead and bring in Josue in place of Kiké again? Josue, second time in the lineup, drew that walk, crucial walk, and he does the same thing again. Can you just talk about his at-bat?

DAVE ROBERTS: He's got a good heartbeat, looks over the ball really well. I've got no hesitation running him out there. I just felt with Megill he's just a really good pitcher, especially tough on right-handers. What way to give us the best chance to get Mookie up to bat, and that's the decision I made, and I felt good about it.