When Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber steps into the batter’s box in Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Saturday, his approach will be simple.
“What we're trying to do: Don't look like a ding-dong at the plate,” Schwarber said as a guest on Wednesday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show. “Hit ding-dongs, but don't be a ding-dong.”
Schwarber has hit his fair share of postseason ding-dongs; his 21 playoff homers are the second most among active players, behind only Jose Altuve’s 27. However, Schwarber, who led the NL with 56 homers during the regular season, swears that he’s not always looking to go deep. He can recall at-bats when he purposely tried to hit a homer, and the end result was often him looking “like a freaking idiot,” he said.
Instead, the hulking left-hander wants to stay in the middle of the field and try to rap out a low line drive, which he calls “the most perfect-struck baseball that you could have.” And even as the games take on greater importance in October, Schwarber is focused on sticking to his everyday process.
“Just because everything's heightened [in the postseason], the senses are heightened, it doesn't mean you have to be Superman.”
The atmosphere around the ballpark is also heightened this month, especially in Philly, which is well-known for its fervent fan base. The Phillies will get a little taste of that tonight during an intrasquad game at Citizens Bank Park. The score won’t matter. The result won’t matter. But more than 31,000 fans will be in attendance for the exhibition.
“They are going to be going wild for any run that's being scored today,” Schwarber said of the fans. “It's going to be interesting. It's going to be fun.
“This is just for us to stay in that rhythm. We know that whoever comes out of this series between the Reds and the Dodgers -- they are going to be primed up, they are going to be juiced up. They just won a big series, and now it's on us to match that intensity.”
That crowd will supply some intensity as well, once the Phillies begin postseason play. Schwarber remembers his first experience with Red October in Philadelphia. It was 2022. The Phillies had dispatched the Cardinals in their Wild Card Series in St. Louis and then split their first two NLDS games in Atlanta. As the Phillies returned home for Game 3, CBP was absolutely electric.
“It felt like a football game,” Schwarber said. “I'm like, ‘Holy [expletive], this is awesome.' It gives you goosebumps. You just don't expect that. … It's literally the best. That’s why I'm itching, I'm ready for Saturday. Friday, we're not going to be able to sleep.”