NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DODGERS VS BREWERS

October 14, 2026

Andrew Vaughn

Cooper Pratt

Dodger Stadium

Milwaukee Brewers

Pregame 3 Press Conference

Q. Andrew, can you just speak to the challenge, if there is any, of remaining prepared when you're not getting the number of at-bats probably that you would like in the postseason to this point?

ANDREW VAUGHN: Yeah, I think the biggest thing is just staying locked in, if I'm in the game or not, just never getting out of it. Get in the cage, get my work in. Obviously at home we have the Trajekt machine, get on that, track some pitches, stay watching film, just having a game plan and being ready when my name's called.

Q. On that note, Andrew, with the role you have in the playoff, does that allow you to focus in more on a few specific pitchers, whether it's Trajekt or film or whatever it may be?

ANDREW VAUGHN: For me personally, I'm trying to stay ready for everybody. No matter the situation that comes up during the game, just trying to be ready no matter what.

Q. Cooper, your first trip through this, how have you managed the emotion of the increased intensity and those elements of what playoff baseball is like?

COOPER PRATT: It's the same game, but you definitely notice it the first game. You start to kind of get used to it a little more, just like how you play your first game in the Big Leagues. You're kind of wide-eyed, but then as you play more, you kind of start to relax, and it's kind of been like that.

The first game I was a little wide-eyed, heart was beating, and then it's slowly gone down every game. It's starting to just focus on the game instead of the outside stuff.

Q. Just wondering in particular with Blake Snell what you anticipate the challenge of facing him will be and how you prepare for facing him tonight?

ANDREW VAUGHN: Obviously Coop wasn't there last year, but facing him last year in the playoffs, he was kind of dominant. He was on his stuff. Fantastic pitcher, great arsenal. I think just as a group, we just have to have our plan and stick to it. Grind at-bats out. Not one of them is going to be easy, but try to put something together.

Q. You guys are getting a lot of attention for the Brewers style of play -- take a lot of pitches, go the other way. How would you guys describe the brand of baseball that the Brewers emphasize and play?

ANDREW VAUGHN: I don't really think it's a different game, but Murph demands a lot from us. Playing the game the right way, doing the little things the right way, whether it's drawing a walk, getting on base, moving a guy over. There's other ways to create runs instead of hitting home runs. We're not necessarily all going to go out and pop home runs. We have guys that can do that, but just trying to create runs in any way possible.

Q. Andrew, how much have you seen Cooper mature as a player and a person in these last couple of months, especially the postseason?

ANDREW VAUGHN: A lot. It took a while for him to put his sippy cup down.

(Laughter.)

No, he's matured and improved so much in this game. He's a young guy. He's just getting his first taste this year. He's still got a lot to learn. We all do. If you stop learning this game, I think something's wrong.

Q. Andrew, kind of again about the being in and out of the lineup, are you in there tonight? And how has Murph -- how has the process been about communicating these decisions? He shared with us that there have been some difficult choices to make with some of the right-handed bats that he has on the bench.

ANDREW VAUGHN: Absolutely. For me personally, I'm preparing to play every single day. That's kind of my mindset going into it, is no matter who's pitching that day, I'm showing up prepared to play. Watch my film, being ready for the guy. If my name's not in the lineup that day, I'm ready for the whole bullpen. So that's kind of my game plan.

Q. What do you feel like the things that you guys have done well against their starters the first two games, and then is there anything that you can take away from that? Obviously they're presenting different arsenals, but just kind of those key traits that you guys have been able to knock those guys out early?

COOPER PRATT: It goes back to like you go watch JB's at-bat, 12-pitch at-bat, and then Yelich comes up with the bases loaded with two outs and gets a big knock. It's just stuff like that, the ball strike, not swinging at crap, and swinging at good pitches and like grinding it out.

Yamamoto's out in the third, I think, and then we're into the bullpen. We just try not to throw away at-bats, and the guys did a great job of that the past two games, and we need to keep it going.

Q. For both of you guys, for you, Andrew, as someone who came in from another organization, and Cooper who joined the Big League club for the first time this year, what can you say about the Brewers as an organization that makes it a place where people are able to come in and join an already successful club and then sort of find their own way?

ANDREW VAUGHN: I think it's a culture that's already been created here. It came long before we showed up. It's a place you want to come into and buy into the process of what everybody is doing. I think that uplifts every single person that walks through the doors of the clubhouse.

COOPER PRATT: I think it starts down in the Minor Leagues. They kind of start that early so when you get up here, you're ready for it too.

Q. Along those lines, Christian Yelich is the guy from the position player group who's been through all of it, the longest time, kind of franchise guy. What kind of resource and teammate has he been for you when you first got here and working through all that?

ANDREW VAUGHN: Yeah, he's the man. He's done so many great things in this game, but you would never know that. As a person, as a guy in the clubhouse, like he's the team leader that you can go to. You have a question about, I don't know, maybe Coop had to ask, Do I wear a collared shirt first day in the Big Leagues? And Yelich is going to tell you how it is. He's a captain for a reason.

Q. To follow up on that earlier question, where do you feel like you have matured, and what steps have you taken in your three months in the Big Leagues?

COOPER PRATT: I kind of go back to like when I first came up, just big-eyed, heart was pumping, and then you start to, like, talk to some of your guys, talk to some of your teammates, and they kind of tell you like, hey, relax, like breathe. Vaughny told me a couple times, hey, man, breathe. You sometimes forget.

Then once you start to play and you start to relax and like, hey, I belong here, like hey, it's just another game, and stop focusing on, oh, I have to do this, what if this happens, what if this happens, instead of just playing the game, it starts to kind of slow down, and you start to figure out the process to it and start to like learn how -- I'm still learning how it goes.

I've only been up here three months, but you start to get a grasp of what it's like to be up here, what you have to do, when you have to get your work done, how to get ready for a game, how to be prepared.

Every day you're up here you just learn, and you kind of go off of that, and you start to get a little more relaxed and a little more -- what's the word? -- ready or focused or prepared. Then you just keep going, man.

Q. Coop, with your fellow rookie Robert Gasser, what have you seen in terms of his maturation and why he's ready again for this moment?

COOPER PRATT: Gas is the man. He's stepped up big time, and he's shoved. He really knows how to pitch. He was my locker buddy in Nashville, and then they kind of separated us here in the show. I was giving him pitching advice in Nashville, and that's why he was really dominant. (Laughter.)

He's been doing it for sure. He really understands the game, and he's been a big part of this team here since he's been up.

Q. We asked Murph yesterday if the feeling of getting on the plane from last year after a four-game sweep, the humbling feeling drove him throughout the year to get back to this moment thinking, okay, you guys would likely go through the Dodgers, beat the best to be the best. Did that same feeling drive you this year to get back to this moment?

ANDREW VAUGHN: Yeah, last year ended kind of terribly. Getting swept in the playoffs wasn't a good feeling. That definitely wasn't a fun plane ride home. I think it fueled everybody that experienced that last year.