NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DODGERS VS BREWERS

October 12, 2026

Dave Roberts

American Family Field

Los Angeles Dodgers

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. With this matchup today, you have another good one, but specifically with Logan Henderson, you guys saw him a little bit in the regular season. What stands out to you about him, or what do you think poses the challenge with how he navigates through the lineup?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, good young pitcher. We've seen him a couple of times. It's a really good fastball that plays up with the characteristics, low slot. He's got a good change-up that sort of runs, misses the bat, good versus right and left, and good athlete.

We've got our work cut out. It's going to be a tough battle. It's going to be a different sort of approach than like a Misiorowski kind of thing. He's really good. Very good young pitcher.

Q. Just to follow up, what have you liked about that from the group? The pitch count up, long at-bats. What do you like about the group that hopefully is going to lead to better results?

DAVE ROBERTS: I like the intent, 1 through 9. I like the fight, seeing pitches, winning pitches. Now it just gets to finishing off the at-bat with some hits and hitting some outfield grass and kind of just trying to play to getting more line drives versus the fly balls.

Yeah, that's just inches, centimeters. I'll bet on how we go about taking at-bats to then expect a good result. Like I said, this guy Henderson is really tough, really good, and we've just got to go out there with the same intent, and then we'll put up some runs.

Q. You mentioned last night liking Will Smith higher in the lineup, but then you did end up dropping him today. What went into that decision?

DAVE ROBERTS: Just kind of thinking about he's still hitting fifth, and that's a very important spot in the lineup. I think for me it's just having this pitcher in particular, I liked Teo. So for Teo to get three cracks at this guy, I like it. So it's a fastball, change-up, cutter mix. Teo's swinging well.

Again, that 5 spot, as we talked in the DS, the game falls to the 5 spot a lot. So Will's going to have a chance to get a couple two-out hits that can change the game. Again, moving down two spots, but it's still a very, very important spot.

Q. Will said that his swing feels better than the results have been. What have you been seeing?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, I think the last couple days, the last couple games, it's been better. He still takes a good at-bat. It just hasn't kind of lined up yet. It's one of those things that in this moment in time, everything rightfully is more magnified and it's five games. All it takes is squaring one ball up, and it flips.

Yeah, I still trust him in the batter's box.

Q. I wanted to ask you about Yamamoto. There's something about this guy. I recognize how great his stuff is, how great his body of work is, but there's some other quality that he has, he's got that thing that allows him to thrive in moments like this. You see it. How would you define that thing or describe that thing that he has?

DAVE ROBERTS: Part of it is who he is as far as his makeup, his toughness, the work ethic, the culture piece of it. Everything he does is for a purpose really. You just don't see him -- and I think that when you work and prepare the way he does -- I've never seen anyone prepare like him, no one.

Then when you take it into a game, that's why he is so unflappable and continue to make pitches when he needs to. Obviously the pitch mix is next level. The delivery is next level. He has pitches to get left and right out. The command is next level.

You take all that stuff with there's never any question in preparedness, the moment never gets too big because he manages his heartbeat.

So, yeah, I mean, I had Clayton Kershaw for ten years, and no one did it like him until Yamamoto, in the sense of every single thing he does and what it takes to prepare for a day. It's spectacular.

Q. Have you decided on a Game 3 starter yet?

DAVE ROBERTS: We haven't kind of -- I think we know, but we're not ready to divulge yet.

Q. Obviously you guys were one of the top home run-hitting teams this year, and you're built that way. In these close games, do you fight your instinct as a small-ball player that you were, and how do you balance that?

DAVE ROBERTS: I certainly -- yeah, I think that the small ball, some of it is baseball, but you also have to have the right personnel. We've got a lot of players that were better than I was as a player.

Yeah, we're built to slug. I do think that today -- and Henderson's a heck of a pitcher -- but we've got to be able to take some shots and see if we can knock the ball out of the ballpark, versus a guy like Miz, different profile pitcher. You still need to take those at-bats and still be able to get a base hit hit behind a runner, like Andy did yesterday to drive in a run.

So that's just baseball, but as far as like the bunt, the hit and run, stuff like that, you also have to have the right personnel.