Speaker 1: It's the Dodgers and Cubs finishing out the Tokyo Series,
Speaker 1: and we're joined by a man that was strong last night.
Speaker 1: It has been strong since last World Series. Do not
Speaker 1: sleep on, Ben Casparius. Ben, thanks a lot for the time, appreciated,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. Hey, what was last night's atmosphere
Speaker 1: for you? You started game four in the World Series.
Speaker 1: Obviously it's not that type of game or situation. But
Speaker 1: what was it like being on the mound last night?
Speaker 2: I mean, it was pretty awesome opening day. You know,
Speaker 2: probably close to fifty thousand people, passionate fans obviously in Japan,
Speaker 2: and you know, it was special to get the ball
Speaker 2: in the first game of the year, and it was
Speaker 2: a lot of fun to get a w.
Speaker 1: I asked Tanner Scott what it was like warming up
Speaker 1: in the bullpen last night. He said, once the phone
Speaker 1: rings had, adrenaline still kicked in despite you being in
Speaker 1: some tunnel underground.
Speaker 2: For sure, No, it was cool. I haven't experienced a
Speaker 2: bullpen like that before. It was definitely interesting, but I
Speaker 2: thought it was pretty fun. We've had a good time
Speaker 2: down there, and you know, just keep the ball rolling
Speaker 2: moving forward.
Speaker 1: Ben, you were a really good start pitcher in the
Speaker 1: minor leagues. Have you embraced this role to be able
Speaker 1: to be part of this team?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it. I think coming out of the
Speaker 2: bullpens really helped me just simplify my approach, you know,
Speaker 2: batter to batter, pitch by pitch. It's been a really
Speaker 2: solid experience and I'm enjoying it.
Speaker 1: What is the mentality? What's so different about being successful
Speaker 1: as a starter and successful as a reliever.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think it both, Like it comes
Speaker 2: down to navigating the game, obviously reading different situations, but
Speaker 2: I think at the end of the day, just go
Speaker 2: out there, attack with your best stuff, and you know,
Speaker 2: you give your team yourself the best chance to succeed.
Speaker 1: It feels like, according to these radar guns around the
Speaker 1: league that your stuff is ticked up as a relief pitcher.
Speaker 1: Did the Dodgers put you on some sort of program
Speaker 1: to be able to gain more velocity, more spin rate,
Speaker 1: all of those stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think just you know, the plan going into
Speaker 2: the off season, just kind of tinkering with some mechanical things,
Speaker 2: cleaning up some movement based stuff in the weight room,
Speaker 2: and I've seen some really positive things so far.
Speaker 1: Who's helped you the most out of all the veterans
Speaker 1: that you had last year when you made that pseudo
Speaker 1: start in game four and just in spring training, which
Speaker 1: veterans have really helped you and get your mind right?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's a collection of guys. I mean,
Speaker 2: we're lucky enough where the culture down in the bullpen
Speaker 2: specifically is so awesome. But I want to say guys
Speaker 2: like Blake Trinan, Michael Kopek, Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia, and
Speaker 2: the list goes on, obviously, but just in terms of
Speaker 2: like my mental side of things and just preparing myself
Speaker 2: for to be available every single game is obviously different
Speaker 2: from starting, So I think that was the biggest shift,
Speaker 2: and I think those guys have really helped me and
Speaker 2: kind of honed in on, you know, my my prep
Speaker 2: routine and you know, different ways of going about getting
Speaker 2: ready to compete.
Speaker 1: Ben Caspiraus is our guest in front of first pitch
Speaker 1: of game two of the Tokyo series. All right, let's
Speaker 1: talk some college hoops. You are from Connecticut, Yukon got
Speaker 1: bounced in the tournament conference tournament. They snuck in as
Speaker 1: a two time defending national champion, can you tell us,
Speaker 1: in all of us that need to fill out our brackets,
Speaker 1: how much you believe in Yukon.
Speaker 2: I love them. I think they're a playoff team. I
Speaker 2: think over the past couple of years they've you know,
Speaker 2: kind of trended in the right direction as the season's
Speaker 2: gone on. So I've got they've got the Huskies winning all.
Speaker 1: Winning it all in your bracket, put me in your bracket.
Speaker 1: You go with your heart instead of your mind.
Speaker 2: Going with my heart. I think they're going to get
Speaker 2: it done, all right.
Speaker 1: So, because you're a world champion now all over the country,
Speaker 1: people have celebrated your teammates in their local areas, especially
Speaker 1: here or in La Uh. For you, were you invited
Speaker 1: to a Yukon game? Does Dan Hurley have your cell number?
Speaker 1: What's the relationship now that you're a world champion star?
Speaker 2: He doesn't have my number? I think we should. I
Speaker 2: think we're gonna have to run it back and maybe
Speaker 2: maybe we can make that happen next to some so we'll.
Speaker 1: See, all right. And now here's another part of the
Speaker 1: the pop culture for bank Caspirius. Uh, did you have
Speaker 1: a chance to enjoy Tokyo with your family?
Speaker 2: Yeah? It was awesome. My sister and dad are here,
Speaker 2: checked out some temples, fish market, went to Genza, Shibuoya.
Speaker 2: It was it was great. It's it's it's been an
Speaker 2: unbelievable trip and it kind of doesn't seem real, to
Speaker 2: be honest, and it kind of flew by, but it was.
Speaker 2: We had a really good time and it's I want
Speaker 2: to come back for sure.
Speaker 1: And you had that special players only dinner with Otani
Speaker 1: and that big tuna fish. Are you all in on
Speaker 1: what was served at that private dinner?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's probably the best quality food I've
Speaker 2: ever had, really, at least at least sushi and fish.
Speaker 1: It was great.
Speaker 2: We had a I mean it was you know, we
Speaker 2: had a great time, great group of guys obviously, and
Speaker 2: it was cool and really special for them to put
Speaker 2: that on for us.
Speaker 1: All right, Ben, thanks a lot for the time. Great
Speaker 1: to see you. You know U. I'm in your corner.
Speaker 1: You're you're under the radar emerging as a real dude
Speaker 1: here with the Dodgers. So thank you for the time.
Speaker 2: Thanks, Thanks, don't.
Speaker 1: Forget the little people.
Speaker 2: Ben