MLB WORLD SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS RANGERS

November 1, 2023

Torey Lovullo

Chase Field

Arizona Diamondbacks

Postgame 5 Press Conference

Rangers - 5, Diamondbacks - 0

Q. I know the feelings are pretty low right now, but I'm wondering if you can see past that at all to comment on what a great season it was, the journey to get to this unlikely World Series for a very young team?

TOREY LOVULLO: Before I get started, I just want to congratulate the Texas Rangers, Bruce Bochy, Chris Young and all their players, ownership. They're an amazing franchise. They won their first world championship in franchise history, and it's quite an accomplishment. They were the best team. They beat us fair and square.

As far as your question, yeah, I just got done telling the guys that I'm so proud of what they've done. And we have to step back for a minute and tell ourselves that we've done a lot of really amazing things this year. And then we got on this really fun ride through the course of the postseason.

And you just never want it to stop. It's like your favorite roller coaster that you never want to get off of. And you want to be the last team standing. You want to be in the middle of a pile and have everybody pile on top of you. That's the best feeling in the world.

So, some have been there, and we're going to continue to climb that mountain. Once we get there, we want to stay there for a long time.

But the reason why it hurts so bad is because we care so much. We care about this baseball community. We care about the fans of Arizona that bleed Sedona red with us, that have backed us. Those are the things that go through my mind and all the players.

This is painful. This is just plain painful. And I can't quite move past that right now. But I will.

I told the guys to absorb it and process it the right way, don't compartmentalize it, don't put it away. Think about how you feel when you get to that point and we'll get to that crossroads at some point and be able to say, wow, this was a great run. And we did some pretty amazing.

Q. As you look forward to the next steps, how many days do you think it's going to be before you actually start thinking about next year?

TOREY LOVULLO: Man, that's a good question. I want to run away and hide for a few days. I want to go camping and just sit in the tent and suck my thumb (laughter) and eat ice cream. Is that the weirdest answer you guys have ever had? And just let it run its course the way it's supposed to.

Hurt when I'm supposed to hurt. Cry when I'm supposed to cry. Feel good when I'm supposed to feel good. But when I wake up on that one morning, whenever it is, it could be a week from now, 10 days from now, it's going to be a little while. I know that.

I know how I operate. But when it is it's going to be turn the page and let's go. It's go time. I think everybody's in that same boat right now.

And I want to hurt. I want to hurt, because I want to remember what this feels like because I never want to feel it again. Everybody knows that feeling I'm talking about, whether it's personal, something personal or something professional, you want to move off of these moments. But I'm not going to run away from it.

Q. What can you say about Zac and the way he responded tonight and what he gave you given his struggles up to this point?

TOREY LOVULLO: It was everything that he could possibly give us and then some. I was Zac watching the way everybody else was -- it was no hits through whatever it was, six and a third, I don't know exactly what it was. He answered the bell. He came out fighting, and he was slugging it out.

I feel like had we scored some early runs it would have been a little bit of a different outcome. But we didn't. And he kept us in the game. Without him, we wouldn't have been in the position we were in.

The game really was in the balance until the ninth inning when they blew it open with four runs. That's what good teams do. They did that on their own.

But at the end of the day, when I walked in this ballpark today, I knew that Zac was going to be our starting pitcher, and I felt really good about it. I know what's inside of him. I know where his heart is. And he didn't let us down.

Q. That bunt by Gabby, was that something that was called, improvised? Can you walk us through that?

TOREY LOVULLO: He bunted on his own. We talked about playing downhill baseball, getting a lead. We just felt good about trying to get out front.

You could see we were very aggressive, it was the first pitch -- not the first pitch, but the first chance, executed, got him over.

We just couldn't find that big knock. That's the difference in the game today. They did and we didn't.

Gabby did that on his own. We talked about putting guys in scoring position, scoring first. That was the theme for us. And it ended up being a big out, I know, and we didn't score any runs.

Q. Throughout the entire season the D-backs have been praised for their defense, but the last two games it was a little bit of a struggle. What was so different, what did you see?

TOREY LOVULLO: Inside the day today and yesterday a little bit it was kind of a grinding type of feeling. We weren't playing freely defensively. And you see what happens when you make mistakes like that, and you do it against good teams on this level. In the final series of the year it compounds itself and it led to some crooked numbers.

I'm not saying they would or wouldn't have scored runs, but Alek was just trying to knock down 90 feet and save that guy going from first to third. And it led to a big inning.

We tried to play fast. Defensively it means sometimes we make some mistakes, but we've been very good all year long securing the baseball. The last two days we did not, and it showed up and made a difference.

Q. I know it's really tough to look long term right now and past the pain, but for such a young group that had such a bright future going into the year to get this level of experience, just what do you think this is going to do for the program in the future and the boost you guys are going to get from all this experience?

TOREY LOVULLO: There were people that were sitting in the dugout that didn't play that saw a different level, different brand of baseball, some injured players, some younger players. And I'm just reminded of where we're trying to get to every single day.

It's what motivates me when I get up. Like, where does this journey take this organization, take me every single day.

And where does it end? I want it to end at the very tip top of that mountain, and we got really close. I think we tasted it. I know this team will be hungry, and I know it's going to take a little time for us to absorb, but I think you're going to see a very passionate, hungry baseball team walk into Salt River Field next year and be ready to go.

And you get a certain understanding. You get a certain feeling about what it's like, what it tastes like and smells like. You come to the ballpark, it's just a little different atmosphere when you're playing in the World Series.

But it took so much to get there, and I think the guys learned what that passage is like. It just takes a little bit of time to figure it out. And that's what amazed me about this group.

We had guys that had no idea what they were doing and they wound up in the World Series. Now that you know, you'll be able to peek around each corner and make sure that you're ready to go.

I'm reminded of a couple of things that you just don't quite understand the sacrifice and the commitment that shows up every single day. Once you get there and once you get that feeling, it's what drives you and motivates you through those lean days of the middle of the season, of the dog days.

That's what helps you fight. This group has grown up. And there's a certain type of glue that's going to hold them together and that's called something -- it's called being in the World Series, but not winning the world championship.

Q. I know the emotions are pretty raw right now, but could you speak to the impact that the team has made on the Arizona sports community and the fans and the connection now that the fans seem to have with the team?

TOREY LOVULLO: I've been feeling that, maybe the last couple weeks of the regular season that this fan base was behind us. And they were ready to go at every turn to root us on, cheer us on and allow something good to happen.

I'm just sorry. I'm sorry I didn't do my job to get us there. But I will. We all will. And we know they're out there. We love them. They can say what they want to us in the good times and the bad, but we know what they want. They want a world championship as badly as we do. We all bleed Sedona red.

Q. Sewald was a pretty big acquisition for you guys this year. And as you had mentioned, Texas was able to break it open with him on the mound in the ninth. And he also struggled to close out Game 1, obviously. Your thoughts on his performance this season, in this series in particular, and what if any questions you have about him moving forward or what you would like to see out of him moving forward?

TOREY LOVULLO: I think we wouldn't have been in this position without him. He locked down so many games and got us to this point. And I know that he's going to be hurting over what happened over the course of the World Series, but he's one guy that will be able to process it the right way.

I'm sure there's some things that he'll work on. Brent Strom is the pitching guru of all pitching gurus. He's our architect. He's going to go to the drawing board with Paul. If there's anything they need to work on, they'll tighten it up.

He's a back-end guy and you've got to live and die with those moments. And he had a lot of really good, crisp moments.

And you guys always ask me towards the end of Spring Training, who is our closer. I'll probably tell you right now it's going to be Paul Sewald next year, because that's my gut feel. That's how much I believe in him.

Q. Zac Gallen, in the biggest game of his career, he delivered for you. He's been the guy all season. He embraces the team and this community. What does Zac Gallen mean to the Arizona Diamondbacks?

TOREY LOVULLO: A lot. A lot. But I don't want him to feel like he has to carry the workload. He's one-26th of this ballclub. That's kind of what I tell everybody when they walk on this stage. I want to make sure that they fit together as a team.

It's like a puzzle. They find out where they are. Are you the edges? Do we start with you as part of the foundation? How do you fill in? Are you a fill-in type of player?

But Zac Gallen is one of the corner edges, and we'll count on him for as many years as we possibly can.