NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DODGERS VS BREWERS

October 15, 2026

Freddie Freeman

Dodger Stadium

Los Angeles Dodgers

Pregame 4 Press Conference

Q. There's no secret the last three years that we're in the middle of, you guys have played the longest seasons of any back-to-back champions. Do you guys have enough left in the tank to win today and do what only one other team has ever done?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: Yeah, I think we do, obviously. All those are true about what the last couple years has -- I don't think anybody is thinking of that now. All we have to do is win today and force it to tomorrow.

Our number one goal is not to think about the big picture of we need to win four in a row, it's you've got to win today. If we win today, then you worry about tomorrow.

We've got another good one on the mound, one of our aces. So maybe we can score some runs today.

Q. Before the series, Muncy was talking about, while you guys haven't tried to think of it this way, just the feeling of this being a potential kind of last ride for this group of players. As you go into a situation like tonight, does that add to the gravity of the moment at all where you're not just trying to save your season, but keep this run going with this group of guys after everything you've been through the last few years?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: Obviously, I hadn't thought about that once until you just bring it up (laughter). We're all just trying to do what we can to help win a game tonight. But when you do think about it, it is special what we have accomplished over the last couple years, and we still want this to keep going.

We know we have a lot left in the tank together. It's a great group of guys, been through a lot, been all over this world together. We're trying to do something that hasn't been done in 25 years, and I think we still have a great chance to do it. We've just got to play a little bit better baseball.

To be honest, the Brewers are playing really good right now. Their game of baseball is sound, both sides of the ball. You've got to give credit where credit's due. These first three games they've played great baseball.

Luckily it's not a best of five, it's a best of seven, so we've still got a chance tonight.

Q. With the offense you guys have generated a lot of chances. It seems like after all these games it's kind of come down to just not having enough timely hits. How do you fix that? Obviously there's an inherent kind of randomness to the situation.

FREDDIE FREEMAN: People that cover baseball day in and day out, if you really just step back and peel it down, it's just a random thing. There's no -- if we had that specific formula to just pull from that, we would be getting hits all the time. They've got guys throwing 100 from all angles. It's a great pitching staff. We're creating opportunities.

We just need to find grass with the ball. It's really that simple. You get a pitch to hit, you hit it, and hope it finds grass. They're doing a really good job of not letting it find grass right now.

At least we got -- we showed some life against Uribe. Some great counts, got some good at-bats, Will got a huge hit. If we can carry that going. But yeah, baseball's random. I wish we could just find that formula to bat a thousand with runners in scoring position. Hopefully it starts tonight, though.

Q. Sort of on that note, like how much harder has it gotten offensively in the postseason the last few years? It seemed like last year when you guys won the World Series, you hit .203 as a group. How much pressure does it put on those specific moments as you go through a run?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: Runs are at a premium, I think everybody knows that in the playoffs. It's the best pitching staffs. You've got to have a great pitching staff to make it to the playoffs to begin with.

We know it's hard to score runs. A lot of times in playoffs it's a walk, a single, and a three-run bomb. That's usually how things go. That's how it went for us in the NLDS, it was the home run. We haven't hit a home run in two or three games now so -- just putting this out there, so as of tonight.

Runs are hard, they're really are, especially with this pitching staff. Their starters, other than Gas yesterday, they're throwing mid-90s with rise, or you've got Misiorowski throwing 100, 100-plus, and then their bullpen comes in.

It's hard. Obviously when you get in those situations, you try to slow it down. We're all human. Things like that happen. You try to slow it down as best as you can. Breaking through against Uribe, try to take that as a positive we finally got a run or two off their bullpen. Their bullpen is very, very tough.

We know it's going to be a difficult battle going these next few games, but runs are hard to come with no matter what, especially against this pitching staff, but we've got to start tonight.

Q. When you think about yesterday's game -- you alluded to how hard it's been just to get hits to drop -- how do you describe the feeling of really good first at-bat for you, looks like it might be a hit, and here comes Lara just diving? How deflating has it been just to see, especially the outfield defense they've had, to take hits away?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: I got a text from my dad after the game: Please keep doing what you're doing.

That's all you can really do. This game is hard. Just like my last at-bat, you hit a 105-mile-an-hour line drive, it's caught. 98-mile-an-hour sinker from the left side, there's nothing you can do other than try to get a pitch to hit and you hit it.

They're playing the right spots. They're making great plays. And that's why they're up 3-0, to be honest. You've got a platinum Gold Glover at second base. Joey Ortiz is great at third. Cooper Pratt has been playing amazing as a rookie. You've got to give credit where credit's due, and they played great baseball these first three games.

Hopefully those balls will fall two feet to the left or right and we start getting some momentum here. To be honest, keep hitting the ball hard. I'm going to try to do it again today, and hopefully those balls find grass today.

Q. One other topic, I couldn't help but notice when I get to the ballpark today, first person I see on the field for the Dodgers is Dino Ebel ready to do early work. How do you describe in this point in the season the commitment your superstars have to doing the work with Dino every day?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: The people that are around us every single day, you see our coaching staff, Chris Woodward. Once I get done with my press conference, I'll be out there, and he goes, I'll be waiting for you.

It's a collective effort. We're all pulling on the same rope. You have a great group of players that want to do the work and the coaching staff matches it.

That's what's kind of built this great organization that we have here. It's a collective effort. I know Josue is doing a lot with Dino to try to make himself better in left. It's guys that aren't necessarily in the lineup every day. They're out there in October after eight months straight of playing baseball and still giving it their all.

The coaching staff matches the players, and that's why we've got such a good thing going around here.

Q. Freddie, you know that, if you talk to players and ask them who the chattiest first baseman is, you're the first person who always comes up. Will that vary for you depending on the gravity of the situation? In a series like this, World Series?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: No. I'm always -- I think Cooper got his third hit yesterday, and I just said, Nice game, man. It's just really -- you've just got to give credit where credit is due. This game is hard.

I can say "Nice job" and still want to beat you. That's just how it is. But any time you get a hit in this game -- it's extremely hard to get a base hit. I'm always there to say "Nice swing" or something like that.

It doesn't change how I am. I go about it the same way. Hopefully I don't have to say "Nice hit" too many times tonight (laughter).

Q. I know you were talking about just the bullpen and even last night how you guys were able to create some traffic against Uribe. You guys have seen them a good amount of time considering they have taken down essentially more than half of the game for the Brewers. With today being somewhat of a bullpen game for them, is there something of value when it comes to some of the looks you guys have gotten so far?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: Yeah, you can take as much as you want. You're still facing 100 miles an hour. As much as you -- you know what's coming. You've got to be feeling good at the plate. Your swing's got to be in a good spot. You've got to be on time. They've got to not catch the ball when you hit it.

Yeah, it's like when you face Uribe, you've got to get them up, you do. I thought we did a great job of that yesterday, leaving the 98-to-100-mile-an-hour sinker below the zone, and we created traffic.

It's just more of when you see them, you can see how they attack you, what works for them. Maybe that plan you had going in, you could switch it up to something else. I thought we did a good job on Uribe, so that's a step.

We didn't face Ashby yesterday. Ashby -- I don't understand that. It's 98 to 100 from up here and sinking and curving. They've just got a lot of weapons. When you face guys over and over again, you can see if that plan you had going in works or if that makes you swing at pitches that necessarily you don't want to swing at. That's the positive of facing the bullpen over and over again is that you can create maybe a more specific plan going into the next at-bat that you face.

I thought we did a good job against Uribe. They've still got great arms all over the place. Yeah, if you can -- potentially, if we can win this game with them using that bullpen, it's a big step for us going forward. Their bullpen is a big piece of this whole puzzle of theirs. If we can potentially tire them out and get this game tonight, we can grow some momentum tomorrow.

Q. Last night on the post-game show for Fox they were talking about with the team being down and facing elimination, there's the mindset of there's nothing to lose. This is a veteran-laden group, and you all understand what it's like with your backs against the wall. But is there something to that mindset for a team in which you can leave it all out there with the hopes of everything going in your favor tonight?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: Yeah, I thought we've done a good job of that mentality, treating every game -- in the playoffs, you kind of have to treat every game as an elimination game. That's how you go about it. This is actually a real -- you can think that, but oh, if we lose, we can still go tomorrow; but there is no tomorrow if we lose.

We know what's at stake. We know how to handle it. We're not going to -- you're not going to see a bunch of panic going around here. We understand we still have a great baseball team. Everyone knows that we have a good baseball team. We just haven't put it all together, and they've been playing good baseball.

You're going to see us on the field doing our work. It's going to look exactly the same. We're going to go about it, maybe we switch up to different approaches of certain pitchers, maybe that's a little different, but there's no panic around here. We know we have a good baseball team; we can put this thing together real fast.

Q. Freddie, I have another Father Time question for you. A lot of the commentary surrounding the series at this point is that the Dodgers look old and tired, that they've just gotten old and this run is over. What's your push-back against that?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: I haven't heard that because I don't really pay attention outside the lines, but I don't know what you can really say to that. That's just people's opinions of what that is. We do know we have an older team. That doesn't mean we're old and we're playing bad because we're old. We're just not playing that great, in my mind.

But that's people's opinions. I can't change your opinion because we are in this game a little bit older than everybody else. I don't feel old. So hopefully when you watch us play tonight, you can say we don't look old and we win the game.

Q. You talked about obviously -- how much does it help you all having this veteran group and you guys have been together for so long to be able to stay not just physically doing your work but mentally balanced knowing what's at stake, taking it inning by inning, and knowing that you're trying to force another game and another game and so forth?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: Yeah, just last year we needed to win two games to win the World Series. If we lost, we didn't win. You can draw from that. You can draw from anything at this point. We know what's at stake. Again, it's not thinking about winning four in a row. We've got to focus on tonight. If we win tonight, then we can focus on tomorrow.

Just trying not to get the big picture, make it smaller and just focus on tonight. Then we can go from there. But we've got a great group of guys that we'll come together and do our work today and go get 'em again tonight.