And an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talk. It's the Dodgers and Padres Round six, and we're joined right now by Dodger third baseman Max Munsey. Max, thanks a lot for the time, appreciate it.
Yeah, sure, anytime.
All right. So, you hadn't seen the Padres all season long, and now you're seeing them seven times within a week. How much does that contribute to the playoff feel? And maybe you know, obviously the intensity we've seen over the course of the last week.
Yeah, you know, just like the whole last month, it's kind of felt like that's been our stretch. We were playing these teams back to back a bunch, you know, you talk about the Mets and you some of these other teams, we're seeing them a lot, and uh, you know, just over the last couple of weeks, we've played a lot of teams that are in first place, you know, fighting for first place right around there, and so it's just been, uh, you know, it's been a tough couple
of weeks. And then we get these guys, like you said, seven times in a week, and you know, it's always a lot of energy in these games, and it's a uh, you know, it's been a fun atmosphere and you know, thankfully here has been what it's been otherwise, you know, you know, with where we're at right now, i'd be a little tough to get through the games.
What was playing in last night's game, like it did feel like a playoff game, as you pointed out after it was three and a half hours.
Yeah, you know, we it was a national TV game. We seem to be getting quite a lot of those recently. And you know when the national TV games they go to you know, three minutes in between innings instead of just the two minutes, and it's it's crazy how much just you know, it's eighteen minutes added on to the game right there. And then you know, they just feel
so much longer. And you know, when you get used to having the you know, the new rules with the pitch clock and everything, the games just feel to go, you know, so much faster, You feel in rhythm, you
don't feel like you sit around as much. And then you get the TV games and you feel like you're sitting around all the time all of a sudden, and you know, it just it just it's a it makes for a longer game and last night was definitely a really long game, and you know, had a little bit of everything involved in it.
Yeah, including show Heo Tani being hit by Randy Vasquez. We're are you as surprised as a lot of us were to see him take not just one shot, but two shots to try to hit your star player.
Yeah, you know I had last night. I said I didn't think it was intentional. I just thought they were trying to get fastballs in on them, And going back and watching it, I might have a different opinion now, but you know, it's over with. It is what it is. We got another game today. Last night was last night. It doesn't have any effect on today's game at all. And so you know that's how we've always approached things, you know, all year long. Today's the only day that matters.
Nothing that happened previously matters at all, and nothing that's going to happen tomorrow matters. And you know, we got to get through today. We got to prepare for today, to do whatever we have to do to make sure we're prepared to go out there and win the game tonight.
Max Munsey is our guest in front of first pitch between the Dodgers and Padres You alluded to the stretch of the schedule, Max, How aware were you and your teammates going into it, going back to the last time you played the Diamondbacks, You're about to finish up a twenty nine game stretch again playoff contenders.
Yeah, I don't know. You know, a lot of us don't really pay attention to the schedule other than you know, where are we going on this upcoming road trip that kind of stuff. And you know, I think we were sitting there one of the games and on TV they showed what our schedule was upcoming, and a lot of guys were like, oh, we got a gauntlet coming up, and you know, that's basically all the comments that were made. It was just like, oh, it's gonna be a tough stretch,
but all right, here we go. We got to get through it. And you know, every single game is tough. This is the major leagues. There's not I know, there's teams that have bad records, but there's no such thing as a bad team in the major leagues. These are the best players in the world and on any given night, a pitcher can go out there and you know, throw seven innings, you know, easy and on any given night a pitcher can go out there and not make it
out of the first It's you know, it's baseball. Things are gonna happen, and you just got to find a way to get through it all.
Max. I know everybody always focuses on offense, and you guys are the best offense in baseball. But you personally, it feels like the defense at third base not only has become more consistent, but you're starting to make plays that we have seen you make the last couple of years. So what do you attribute that to?
One? Hard work, getting on your every day Me and Mookie, me and miggeiy Row, and you know, just continually talking about it. Getting knowledge about defense. I think that's a huge thing instead of just you know, learning how you're going about your work, what you're doing in your work, making each rep you take purposeful and not just you know, Oh I'm going out there and I took thirty ground balls. I feel good. It's you know, how are you taking those thirty ground balls? How are you to you know,
what are you doing to make those better? How are you preparing for it? And then the other thing is just getting confidence, you know, and That's something I've talked about a bunch, whether it's on offense, defense, whether you're on the mound. You know, if you don't have any confidence in yourself, it's hard to compete in this game. And you know, sometimes all it takes is one play
to to swing that pendulum the other way. And you know, for me, it's just getting the confidence back in the defense. One of those things where I've I don't know how many times I've told you, I really feel like I can be a good defender. I feel like I have the actions to be a good defender. But you know, when you lose confidence, it's it's hard to really go out there and do what you've been practicing. And so for me, it's just getting a little confidence back.
It seems like you do have that confidence. It feels like you're kind of not not just writing a swagger, but kind of at peace with the way that you're happy with your play.
Yeah, you can always get better, you know, it's baseball. You can always you can always play better. But uh, you know that's I think that's what makes this game so loving and frustrating at the same time, is you know you're never gonna be perfect. In this game, even though you try to attain it every single day, and you know, and that's that's the beauty of it, and that's the things that's that's some of the things that
I've learned from my teammates over the years. When you talk about the guys that I've played with, whether it's Kershaw or Albert or you know, Matt Camp, all these guys they play for, you know, all these years, and all of them say, there's always things you can learn and always things you can get better at. And you know,
it's the truth. Every single day you can learn something new and you can do something better, and you know, that's that's the end goal, is to try to get as much knowledge as you can and keep getting better every single day.
You don't seem like a guy that chases numbers though.
No I chase wins, you know, and I've said that my entire career at the Dodgers. I don't care what I do as long as I can put the team in a better position to win that night. You know, if I have to sacrifice myself to make sure that the team you get to win, that's something I'm gonna do. You know. If I haven't a bat, or if I have you know, a base running play, or if I see something from the dugout that might help a teammate.
If there's anything I can do that's gonna make the ultimately the team be in a better position to win. That's what I try to chase. You know, the personal numbers are they are what they are. I know a lot of guys care about those, and that's ultimately you know how you get paid in this game. But for me, I've always played this game to win. I've always wanted to win. And you know that's the beauty being on the Dodgers. You always have the chance to win.
No doubt in Max Munsey a two time winner World Series Champion and he's looking for another one this year. Thanks a lot for the time, Max, Always love catching up with you and keep it going of course, Thanks David,