Dodgers Interview: Glasnow looks to keep the the train rolling on Thursday
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers have spent October making excellence look routine, and no more was that more apparent than in the NLCS. Two games, two masterclasses — first Blake Snell carving up Milwaukee, then Yoshinobu Yamamoto painting edges like it’s spring training against a B squad on a back field in March. Now it’s Tyler Glasnow’s turn. Game 3 of the NLCS arrives Thursday at 3:08 p.m., and the local kid from Santa Clarita sounded relaxed, even amused, about trying to follow that act.
“Just super impressive,” Glasnow said of Snell and Yamamoto. “To start a series like that on the road and pitch two really good games and come out with two wins is huge. I’m in a good spot for tomorrow. I’ll do my game planning and then go out and hopefully pitch well.”
The question came next: can pitching be contagious? “I hope so,” he said with a grin. “It sounds cool and kind of magical, but I think if you just go out and pitch well… we have a lot of good starters and a lot of good hitters. Sometimes it lines up all together, sometimes it doesn’t. Maybe the odds are it clicks for everyone at once. I hope it does — it would help me out tomorrow.”
He likes the timing of this run. “It’s perfect timing,” Glasnow said. “Toward the end of the season we started playing really good baseball, and once the postseason began, we all just clicked and got to a new level. The vibes are really good in the clubhouse. Everyone’s feeling great. It’s a good time to get hot.”
If there’s one word he leans on, it’s compartmentalize. “I try not to do too much or make it bigger than it needs to be,” he said. “I game plan like any normal start and let the adrenaline make my stuff play up, but not go overboard. Treat it like normal. That helped me in Philly. I’m feeling good physically, so I’ll take it like a normal start.”
He’s known Snell longer than anyone in the room, and laughed when asked about the left-hander’s competitive streak. “He’s the ultimate competitor,” Glasnow said. “He works really hard, has his own game plan, attacks hitters his own way. I’ve heard from people that even when he plays video games, he’s like, ‘We’ve got to win.’ He gets mad if guys aren’t playing together. I think people who are good at competing have it on all the time — he’s one of those.”
Last year he watched the Dodgers’ title run from a different angle; this year he’s in the middle of it. “Just how strong we are together as a team — that’s what I took from last year,” Glasnow said. “We do everything together. Practices, planes, even small group stuff with Miggy or Mookie. It almost feels like Little League again, bussing to games together. It’s a tight-knit group, and it’s nice to be part of it.”
Being a local adds something, though not pressure. “It’s a cool feeling,” he said. “I like that I’m home and pitching for the Dodgers. It adds a nice thing, but it doesn’t sit in my head. I appreciate it, but it’s just about doing my job.”
And that’s Glasnow — deliberate, even-keeled, locked on the task ahead. “Do my game planning,” he said. “Go out and pitch my game. Treat it like a normal start. Hopefully pitch well.”
The Dodgers wouldn’t mind if the “contagious” part kicks in again.
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