AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: GUARDIANS VS RAYS

October 14, 2026

Chris Antonetti

Progressive Field

Cleveland Guardians

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Do you have a Game 3 starter?

CHRIS ANTONETTI: Gavin will start tomorrow.

Q. What led up to the official announcement? What were you guys looking to clear just after the ALDS and the workload he had?

CHRIS ANTONETTI: Yeah, we just wanted to see how we responded to the workload to determine when the best time for him to pitch in the series would be. He threw a bullpen yesterday in Tampa and that went well. So he's on track to start tomorrow.

Q. (Indiscernible) six hours play into the thinking? Is that another player that you have to factor in the rest?

CHRIS ANTONETTI: We talked about it. But that was not a primary consideration for us.

Q. How much does the time change affect things today? And I guess Friday's still kind of being played by ear too?

CHRIS ANTONETTI: In Cleveland, as you know, we're good at adjusting to weather. So our guys will be fine. We just have to change some of the logistics and obviously affects the timing of when we get to the ballpark and how we structure our workouts, but it won't have an impact on us.

Q. Vogt mentioned part of the reasons you guys were choosing to start spending the nights at places instead was just the grind of the White Sox series. What was that collaboration like to start deciding flying later to Tampa, flying later back here?

CHRIS ANTONETTI: Yeah, we talked about a lot of different options. Ultimately, what we're trying to solve for is how do we give guys as much rest as possible and put everybody in the best chance to put their best foot forward for each game.

We decided that it made the most sense in our case to just spend the extra night, get a good night's sleep and then fly during the day.

Q. Everybody's who here for Game 5 sort of recognizes what kind of environment that was and how exciting that was. Is there any sort of frustration or disappointment having to move the game up and realizing that the crowd might not be the same for that?

CHRIS ANTONETTI: I think we're hopeful that we'll still have a great environment in the ballpark tomorrow. Our fans have always shown up and supported us. And we expect that to be the case tomorrow.

Obviously, we recognize it's an inconvenience for them, especially a last-minute shift. But this is what we needed to do to get the game in.

Q. Does the outcome of tomorrow's game, will that have any effect on your pitching plans for Game 4?

CHRIS ANTONETTI: How we get through the game tomorrow could have an impact, maybe less on the outcome and more on which guys we use, who pitches, how much they pitch. And that could inform what we do in Game 4.

Q. Steven Kwan was named a finalist again for Gold Glove. I know at the beginning of the year when he was asked to maybe go over to the center, and could have been a chance where maybe he wasn't a finalist. But he immediately kind of took on that responsibility, said he wanted to just win. Just what it's about to a guy obviously get that nomination again, and, two, just be willing to take on whatever role that he wanted?

CHRIS ANTONETTI: Yeah, it's a great credit to Steven. First and foremost, his team-first approach, to be able to come to us and say I'll play where ever it's best for the team.

And he put in a lot of work to demonstrate he's not only a Gold Glove-caliber left fielder but now a center fielder. And he's made a massive impact on our team that's helped us build lineups in different ways as we've gone through the season.

So, huge credit to Steven and all the work that he's put in to get to this point. It's very well deserved.

Q. Kwan has talked a little bit about how moving to center field has helped him improve as an outfielder as a whole. How have you seen that impact in his game?

CHRIS ANTONETTI: It's one of the awesome things about Steven is he looks at every opportunity as a chance to get better. So he took the work that he put in in center field and use that to help him in left field in terms of how he got reads his reactions off the (indiscernible) and the routes that he was taking.

So not surprised at all that Steven would approach it that way because that's who he is. And we've seen that time and time again in his time with us in the organization.

Q. What does Tanner's week look like since he was last on the mound? Is he throwing a bullpen? Is he preparing for the possibility of having to start, or is he still coming out of --

CHRIS ANTONETTI: Tanner's been available for each game in the bullpen, like a number of guys. We try to balance the amount of throwing that they're doing to keep them sharp, but also to keep them fresh. And that's an individual conversation with each guy.

Tanner has maintained the ability to -- or has continued to throw, so he remains an option for us, either in the bullpen or the possible start if that's where we have a need.

Q. In terms of the roster construction before the series, adding Slade, and the impact he made on last night's game, how difficult is it to have a conversation with a guy where maybe in the Division Series he's not on the roster because he's right on the cut of what you need, and then you use him in the ALCS, and he puts together a good inning? And I suppose as a follow-up, how do you see Matt Festa's role in the series?

CHRIS ANTONETTI: So first, all of those decisions, anytime you're informing someone that they're not going to be on the playoff roster, especially someone who has been with the team for the entirety of the season, those are really hard conversations.

I think Vogter said it the other day in one of his sessions, he said, we have a lot of difficult conversations sending guys out, making transactions throughout the course of the year. But among the most or if not among the most difficult decisions are the ones that leave guys off the playoff roster.

And those are really hard and ones we take seriously.

But in Slade's case, we told him pretty up front that this is just for the Division Series. There are lots of possibilities for how things may evolve in the Championship Series if we get there, so stay ready, stay sharp. And Slade did that and he embraced that.

And obviously we saw the dividends last night because he pitched a really good inning for us.

Matt Festa, he's another one of those guys that's available for us. We have confidence in giving him the ball if the situation arises and he's the right guy for that spot. Unfortunately, that just hasn't presented itself yet. But we're confident that if it does, Matt will do a good job at that.

Q. Cade Smith has talked about when he was deciding where to sign that he really targeted the pitching program here because he wanted to see kind of what you guys could do with him. I know it's a while back, but I'm wondering what you might remember from the profile at the time and how you might have envisioned it was going to progress to where he is now?

CHRIS ANTONETTI: I'd be lying if I said we knew it would progress exactly like this. But if I knew then what I know now about Cade, there's not another human being I would bet on more to make that a reality than Cade.

He was a priority guy for us after the 2020 draft to try to sign. And it was very competitive. There were a number of teams that were interested, and we spent quite a bit of time on trying to put our best foot forward and explain who we are as an organization because as those of you who have gotten to know Cade, he's very thoughtful, incredibly deliberate.

And he spent a lot of time with that decision, and we're grateful that he chose us. It's been a great partnership. And he's taking advantage of every opportunity, every resource possible every day he's been here and made himself into the pitcher we're seeing today.

Q. What have you seen from Espino? Has he progressed from Spring Training to where he's at right now?

CHRIS ANTONETTI: What a cool story. We've had lots of great moments throughout the course of our season, but Daniel getting back to pitching and pitching at the Major League level is one of the highlights.

As we've shared, it's not only an incredibly talented pitcher, but one of the best individuals that you can be around. He is an extraordinary teammate, the type of person that makes everybody around him better.

So it's been great to see him come in, not only just get an opportunity at the Major League level, but pitch some really meaningful innings for us down the stretch and now in the postseason.

Q. The guys went before the deadlines for the trade to get the players that we need here. You bring Adell, you bring (indiscernible), you bring Griffin, who pitched the first game of the series. But bringing in Bailey that I say has been a big part of this team in the second half, how important was it to bring those guys here when it was 28, (indiscernible), stuff like that, and then we finish in the second half number four. How important have those guys been?

CHRIS ANTONETTI: All those guys have made an impact on us at different points throughout the course of the season. Our focus throughout the course of the year was just to try to find ways to improve the roster and make it a little bit better. Each of those guys have contributed to that.

But I also wouldn't want to lose sight about the contributions for the rest of the roster and some of the progress a lot of those other guys have made. Like if Steven Kwan didn't have the second half he had, for example, we might not still be playing.

I think true to form for us, it's a really collective effort and about everybody in the clubhouse, not just any few number of individuals.

Q. Could you kind of go into a deep dive on whether it would be -- all your starters were able to make all their starts this year, none of the starters, especially on the IL. Who gets all the credit for that?

CHRIS ANTONETTI: I think it's a combination. Obviously, luck is an element of it. But we have an extraordinary group of people here to help provide support to our players outside of just our fundamental coaches. And the group works really well together from our medical staff, to our strength and conditioning staff, our sports scientists, and our fundamental groups all work collaboratively with each individual player to try to understand what do they need to do to both be at their best and stay healthy throughout the course of the season.

It's a combination of a lot of thoughtful, hard work and a little bit of luck that leads to that.

Q. I know Kevin Cash wasn't here for a long time but your impressions of him.

CHRIS ANTONETTI: He's terrible.

(Laughter.)

Q. And what have you thought of --

CHRIS ANTONETTI: I can't believe he still has a job managing.

(Laughter).

He's awesome. For those of you who have spent a minute with Kevin you can immediately feel the way he has this unique ability to connect with people. He's an extraordinary leader. He's a brilliant baseball guy. It's not surprising to see Kevin have the success that he's had.