Quotes from Gerrit Cole

I'm a sucker for Wrigley, so I feel I'll probably be a sucker for Fenway, too.

You've got to try to close every inning out, take it one inning at a time, one batter at a time.

It feels good to be able to contribute, eat innings, provide some rest for the bullpen.

Well, I mean, I like to be pretty athletic off the mound in terms of taking care of my job, which is covering first base, fielding bunts in certain situations, fielding slow rollers to the first base and having to communicate and direct traffic.

You never want to be in a bases-loaded, no-outs position, but dammit, when you're there, you better enjoy it. You better not sit there and sulk about it. You better rise up and figure it out.

I was sooo skinny.

It would be irresponsible for me to comment on somebody else's opinions.

I've always just kind of prided myself on just taking the ball and just trying to give your team a chance to win, and I really don't try to make it any more complicated than that.

It doesn't really matter who you're playing. You just have to keep going at them.

A lot of these dips that you go through in the season, it's about persisting through the process and trusting it.

I've obviously learned a lot, a lot of mental toughness, learned how to deal with some adversity. Hopefully I'm better for it.

If you can constantly just put pressure on all four quadrants, it gives you a little more leverage to be able to fill the zone up with breaking balls and fastball counts - or with breaking balls when guys are maybe sitting on the fastball that you've established.

I feel like, by now, if you don't understand that the playoffs can be somewhat of a crapshoot sometimes, then you don't watch enough baseball.

I think that's kind of the common theme when you talk about any good team. Not only do you have the talent and the type of players that allow you to win that many games, but you have to win the ugly ones.

When you're spinning a two-seam, getting on the side of the ball to get more run or sink can be good, but it can really be detrimental to your four-seam.

Every start is an opportunity to get better and to learn how your body is feeling and what you need to do moving forward. It's been an evolution throughout the year.

You try not to pay too much attention to the hype before the game, because you never know what's going to happen.

You get into a tough spot where you're not feeling good and you can't do what you're typically accustomed to doing, you just keep grinding.

You can have really good statistics, which are really good, and it's a serious advantage, but when push comes to shove, it's about players communicating and players playing together.

There's going to be ups and downs throughout the whole year. You can't get frustrated.

The most rewarding thing to me is going deep into games, knowing you stood up, and did your job.

There's a lot of pageantry involved in opening day, flyovers, extra long TV breaks and stuff. To say that it's not important, more so than some other ones, it is. It's the first game of the year. but I got 30 starts to make. Each win or loss is equally as important.

David Price comes and finds me out in the lobby and says, 'Dude, I really enjoy watching you pitch.' I'm just like, 'What's wrong with you? Watch your own games, bro. I just throw fastballs inside. You're painting all over the place, striking the world out.'

You don't want to let the other team feed off your outward physical demeanor. But at the same time, you can't go out and play this game and not expect to just be angry and be competitive and be excited and have that fire in your belly.