John Schneider

I remember getting them in A-ball in Dunedin and doing a big photo shoot with Baseball America, and they had this back-to-back picture, and we made fun of them for it, and here they are.

I think that they bounce ideas off of one another.

They know each other really well.

They know what their swing should look like.

They know what their attitude should look like.

It's pretty unique for guys to be kind of tied together from the beginning of their professional career.

uh it's it's fun to watch you know what i mean it's it's fun to watch them go from kids to adults it's fun to watch them go from minor leaguers to big leaguers and big leaguers to superstars you know um not everyone gets a chance to do that so i mean from my vantage point that is

So it's been really, really fun to watch them grow, and their relationship is one of the closest ones I've seen in the game.

Yeah, we tried to talk to all the guys and see how they were doing physically, see what we have done historically in terms of rest, what it may look like later in the series for certain guys, and then how each one of them matches up against the Dodgers.

wanted to kind of get everyone's feedback, everyone's input.

You know, we have all of ours as coaches and medical staff and game planning, but I want to see how they feel.

So I think just in talking to all those guys, it made sense to hold Kev off for a day.

Again, still kind of working through when that will be, whether it's two or three, but think that it kind of was the best possible outcome for everyone in terms of matchups and rest.

I think we're talking about that.

You know, I think we'll know more today and kind of how he responds to a little bit more activity.

and kind of think about how we're going to use our pitching staff, how we're going to use our bullpen.

So those are conversations we're still having, whether it's 13-13 or 14-12.

John, how does Don Mattingly help you do your job, and what has he contributed to the team these last couple years?

Man, I could sit here and talk about Donnie forever.

When I first hired him, I think it was more so wanting someone who's been through the game more than me next to me.