During a rain delay, what's going on in the dugout?

Ooh.

Rain delay? You know, we kinda sit there for a little bit, you know, watching the rain, watch the grounds crew, 'cause you're always looking for that one ground crew guy that is pulling the tarp and falls in, and then he's stuck under the tarp.

So you kinda sit around and wait for that.

But after that, we all go in the clubhouse, um, and we're just hanging.

We're living- we're watching other games, um, just kinda sitting around.

We're kinda like this in a big circle just talking about the game, talking about anything that's going on in the game right now.

Is hitting a baseball the hardest thing to do in sports?

So what do you think are the traits necessary to be a superstar in New York in terms of weathering those storms?

Ooh, you gotta, you gotta be consistent.

I think that's the biggest thing is consistent if you're good, consistent if it's going bad.

Uh, you gotta be really honest with yourself.

I think that's the biggest thing is sometimes if you're not honest with yourself and like, "Hey, I need to work on this.

I need to improve on this." If you kind of think, "Oh, you know, I'll get it the next day," or, "Oh, that's not too bad," like it'll, it'll work out throughout the season.

It's like all of a sudden the season ends and all of a sudden you're not making the postseason, you have a bad year.

And, um, that, that's how I try and deal with it.

Talk about that, 'cause it's, it's different.

Yeah, that's, that's where you wanna play, Yankee Stadium in the postseason.

You go back and look at all the great moments that the core four had, the championships they won, and it's really such a home field advantage getting the chance to play in New York at Yankee Stadium.

It feels like the place is, is rocking the whole time, and then even going back to the last postseason, just, you know, we're playing the Red Sox in a wildcard division, and we go down the first game, but then the second night, you know, I think we were down in the second game, too, and the fans, they were there the whole game supporting us, pushing us, motivating us.

You know, we were able to win that series.

Um, go on to the Blue Jays series, kinda didn't go our way, but you, you felt the energy.

You know, it didn't matter if we were down in the game, up in the game, the fans are locked in, man, and just playoff baseball, everything matters.

Shop hair at Sephora today.

What's your thought process during that time, during such a long season?

I think the biggest thing is just trusting each other.

You know, sometimes when things aren't going your way, you feel like you gotta do it all on your own, and I think that's when things aren't going your way, you really gotta dive into your teammates and be like, "Hey, man, I got your back.

I know you got my back.

If I don't get the job done, I know you're gonna pick me up." And I think if you got all 26 guys with that mentality, even when things aren't going your way, you're not getting the pitches, you're not getting the calls going your way, I think that's how you get out of those bad stretches, you know? And just gotta trust each other, man.

That's what was cool for me.

I went to a Knicks game this year.

Yeah.

And if we do that, we give the ball to him at the end of the game and he's gonna make, you know, he's gonna make the right decision, so that's kind of our process.

One thing that, to kinda piggyback off that, like, when we were down 29, we weren't, like you said, we weren't just like, "All right, let's win the game now." Like, even when we're down 20, like, with two minutes left and the game is over, like, whoever's on the court and we're, we're in a timeout, we're always preaching, "Hey, like, finish the game strong.

Like, ha- create good habits." So you don't just wanna just give this game away.

Everything counts.

Like, you, you wanna continue to do the right things over and over and over again, because that could give you momentum into the next game.

So I mean, it's just, it's all about, like, the right, having the right mindset and just, like, obviously not giving up.

But, um, like, y- your mind controls way more than you can think of.

Talk about that 'cause it's, it's different.

Or before you enter and then when that match up thr- uh, in between pitches maybe, what's that internal dialogue like for you?

Well, for me it starts on deck.

When I'm on deck, you know, there's a certain breathing technique.

I'm kinda visualizing the pitcher.

I'm kinda thinking about how that bat's gonna go, what the situation's gonna be.

But I think one of the coolest things, um, I was talking to Harper before the postseason this last year and he texted me probably the coolest thing.

He was like, "Hey, one thing I tell myself every, every postseason, every big game, it's like own the moment, don't let the moment own you.

But when you put on the USA uniform, was it a different feeling? W- was, was there something specific you thought of? Or was it just kind of a overwhelming, "Hey, let's go do this thing"?

How does a hitter get better?

Well, I think the, the cool thing about... with the Major Leagues, like, when you're working your way up to the Minor Leagues, you know, you, you're in High A, you do well there, they bump you up to Double A.

And now it's a whole new league, new pitchers, new players.

You do well there, Triple A.

Well, in the Big Leagues you're kind of... you're at the top.

There's nowhere else to go so you're seeing the same pitchers over and over and over again.

The new guys kind of come up, they might stay there for a little bit, they're gone, but you see the same pitchers over and over.

... to chop it up with you in the clubhouse later.