 Open it up to questions now. Meredith. James, just what does it mean to you that they're giving you the ball in game one of the ALDS? I'm excited. It's going to be awesome. I'm really honored to get this opportunity to pitch game one. And it's going to be great. Kristi? This is going to be your first playoff experience. Who are you going to talk to? What are you going to draw on to kind of get ready for that? Well, luckily, we have a lot of players who have had experience in the post-season. So I've been talking to teammates, asking them what it's like, what it's like to pitch in the post-season. I've been watching the past two wild card games. Going to watch the games tonight just to watch what happens and kind of feel that emotion and try and learn something from those games. Marley? James, you were in a team that notoriously didn't make the playoffs for a very long time. We know that Felix spent 14 seasons there without ever pitching in the playoffs. You have a singular perspective about what it's like, this opportunity. What does this really mean to you in terms of spending your entire career with another team who never did that? Yeah, I mean, I feel very fortunate to be here. This is a team that commits itself to winning and making it to the post-season every year. And that's a dream for all baseball players. When we were young, it was to pitch in the post-season, pitch in a world series. You know, that's what we're all dreaming of. To get the opportunity and the chance to go out there and do this, I feel pretty lucky. Ken? James, first of all, how's the glute? It's good. It'll be a non-issue. And secondly, you talked about watching these games this week. Have you watched much post-season action in the past? At times, I haven't watched it as closely, just because when you're out of it, you don't really feel like watching more baseball. You've watched 162. It's kind of like, all right, going to move on a little bit. Plus, it hurts a little bit to watch the teams play that they're there. But going into it, these past two games, I've just kind of watched how the starting pitchers have handled the games and just the crazy things that can happen in post-season games. You know, that first wildcard game, the Nationals were down the whole time and then had a chance to come back and win the game. And last night, Charlie Morton, watching him, he didn't have his best location. He was kind of scuffling early, but he battled and stayed with it and got the job done. So you can learn things from stuff like that. James, to your left. James, it seemed like when you first came over here, it was a little bit of an adjustment process early in the season, like it would be for any new player coming over. How long did it take for you to actually consider this as home for you, Yankee Stadium and pitching in the Bronx when you felt comfortable and felt you could be the pitcher you knew you could be? Yeah, the first half of the season was tough. I was just kind of navigating myself and pitching here, you know, it is different. It's not easy and it took some work. But I feel like in the second half, I started to get my feet under me and kind of get a good mental process, kind of going into games and started to feel a lot more comfortable here. I don't really think about that much, you know, but I definitely do feel comfortable pitching in Yankee Stadium. Heidi. We know starting pitchers are such creatures of habit. When did Aaron Boone let you know you'd be getting the game one start? And what's your routine been like as you're preparing for tomorrow's start? He told me yesterday, he got the official word. But I've been kind of preparing. He told all of us to prepare. Like it could be us on that first game. So I threw my bullpen on Tuesday, like I normally would for a Friday start. And I've been doing all my routine, getting ready like it's Friday. So getting that word, stayed in my routine, I'm ready to go. Sweeney. James, for a good portion of the season, the first inning seemed to give you some troubles. What have you been able to do to kind of correct that? And what will you be kind of focusing on tomorrow with a different atmosphere in the first inning? Yeah. I threw a few more pitches in the bullpen, second half of the season there. I forget exactly when I started doing that. But I just threw an extra 10, 12 pitches, had our bullpen catcher, Rad, stand up there, and act as a hitter so that I could kind of get the first few hitters out of the way in the bullpen, just to try and sharpen myself up. And that seemed to help a little bit. And then just also trying to be really aggressive from pitch one. OK. James, front right. James, the twins obviously have a lot of power in their lineup over 300 home runs. What's the biggest challenge of facing a lineup that has that much power up and down, and specifically those guys in the middle with Kepler and Cruz? Executing pitches, that's what it's all about. Staying out of the middle of the plate. If you make mistakes to a team like that with 300-plus home runs, like you said, that just shows they don't miss them. They don't miss mistakes. They do hit good pitches here and there. There's nothing I can do about that. But I just need to limit the mistakes to try and limit the damage. Right behind him. James, over here. Sorry on the right. Considering it's the playoffs and considering the bullpen you guys have, do you expect to work with a shorter leash? And does that factor into how you pitch, how you start your game? No, I'm going to do what I do. I'm going to go as hard as I can for as long as I can. And when they take the ball away, they take the ball away. I've watched postseason games before. And it does seem like the leash is shorter, especially with the bullpen that we have. But I'm not going to concern myself with that. That's the manager's job, pitching coach's job. I'm going to go out there and try to do my job. Jack? James, how much of a turning point was your start in late July against the Red Sox? You've talked about how they sat fastball, adjusted to cutter, didn't really look for the curveball. They end up with four homers in that game. You really incorporated the curveball after that. How much was that a turning point? And why did that work so well? Yeah, I think that incorporating the curveball is really important because it's just a change of speeds. When I throw the fastball, let's say 94 to 96, and then I throw the cutter at 88 to 91, they can kind of stay looking hard and just pull the cutter and run into it almost by accident sometimes. Whereas if I throw the curveball at 80, 83, something like that, it'll get them out front and they won't be able to cover two pitches with the same swing. We'll take a couple more for James. Kristi? Going with that, your confidence in your curveball seemed to grow in the second half. Was that the turning point, or was there something that let you buy into having a better mix of pitches in the second half for you? Yeah, I think that just after seeing how the cutter was getting hit, we decided to mix in the curveball more. And I think as I threw the curveball more, I got more and more confident with that pitch and the usage just kind of went up from there. We're just waiting for the mic to get to the back. We'll take this and one more from Marley. James, obviously the weather changing might have an impact on the game. Do you prepare differently when you're out there? Does the cold impact you when you're pitching out there? Difference of 40 degrees from one day to the next year? No, I won't be concerned about the weather. I'll be ready no matter what. I'll love pitching any kind of weather. Okay, Marley? James, you were talking about how you waited for this moment, right? This is the dream. Who did you call first? Who did you share that moment of you will be the game one starter for the New York Yankees? I'm trying to think of who I called first. My wife was right up there. She was one of the first. My parents and my brother and my two best friends, I called them. They were just really excited for me. Super proud, super happy. And fired up to watch me pitch that game one. I think they've all been watched me for a long time, had my back and just really proud of the hard work that I put in to get here. And I feel very blessed to be where I am. Great, thank you so much for the time, James. Really appreciate it. Thanks. Thanks, guys.