NL DIVISION SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS DODGERS

October 9, 2023

Evan Longoria

Dodger Stadium

Arizona Diamondbacks

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. How did the day off feel for you? I know you said you were sore on Saturday. Is there a benefit to having a day off or would you rather go back to back in a situation like this?

EVAN LONGORIA: I mean, off days are nice, for sure. I have my family here, and that's nice. But I think after the game, after the first game, there was quite a few of the guys in there that were kind of just champing to get back on the field, especially when you can kind of put some tax on their bullpen. And those things matter in a long series.

The off-days are nice. As far as the body goes definitely enjoy it. But at the same time would have liked to kind of ride that momentum into Game 2.

Q. You talked about the energy that the young guys kind of reinvigorated in you, but how impressive has been for you to watch their development and how they come up in this moment, Carroll, Alek and Gabby?

EVAN LONGORIA: Really nice. Happy for everybody on our team and in particular those guys. I think I touched on it a little bit when we had the talk postgame. The message from some of the guys that had been around, myself included, was for us to get where we want to be at the end of the season our young guys were going to have to play a big role.

They were going to be asked to do more, asked to step into big moments and do what they did for us all year.

They've not disappointed into the postseason. Big hits from Gabby, from Corbin, from Alek, big innings out of Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson and bullpen guys included. I'm sure I'm missing some of them.

But everybody that we've called on who has limited experience in the big leagues -- Geraldo Perdomo has stepped up and been huge for us.

Q. What's it been like for you just going from I know you only got in a couple of games down the stretch in the last couple of weeks, now being in the lineup every single day?

EVAN LONGORIA: It's been nice. Obviously thankful for the opportunity once again to play postseason baseball, to be a part of a team that's doing it. But also to be in the lineup and be able to contribute in any way I can.

As you play more games, I feel like personally the game starts to slow down a little bit more. Towards the end of the season, I was getting starts here and there. And at times it felt like the game was moving really fast because it had been three or four days since I had had an at-bat in a game.

So now, not that that makes the game any easier, but I definitely feel like I'm more in tune with the rhythm and the speed of the game, especially in the postseason, because it tends to speed up even more -- more people in the stands, the moments get bigger.

Yes, it's been nice to have that opportunity every day.

Q. With the way you're performing in the playoffs, playing every day, the way you feel, is it a thing now where I want to keep playing, want to play past this year?

EVAN LONGORIA: Honestly, it's not something that recently I've thought of. I'm trying to stay as present in the moment right now with this group, this season as I can.

I can't say yes or no. I think if you were putting me to it, I'd probably say I'd love to play another year. But again, it's going to be opportunity, I think the right opportunity. And this year I think has proven to me that with the right setting, I can still play pretty effectively.

If I get that opportunity again, we'll go through the same paces with my wife and my family and figure out what's best for our group. But this year has been nothing short of spectacular as a family and as a team. And I've just been really focused on kind of keeping that moving forward.

Q. You mentioned some of the conversations that you had with the younger guys on this team at the beginning of the season. Given the lack of postseason experience that almost all of those guys have, did you have any conversations like that either before the Milwaukee series or ahead of this series?

EVAN LONGORIA: Look, I'm not a genius. None of this is my doing. Look, they're going out there and performing. And I think my job from the beginning of this whole thing has been to be as even keel as I can, especially when the moments get big and to try to be a sounding board for some of the guys who may feel overwhelmed in the moment or may just have questions in general.

So I take no credit for that. Torey's been really great at kind of steering the ship. You guys have heard, I'm sure, that the people that have been with us day in, day out, the multiple meetings we've had when things were going south and he kind of steered us back in the right direction.

So not only me, but I feel like Gallen and Merrill and Christian Walker and all of our -- Marte, for some of the Latin-speaking guys, the Spanish-speaking guys -- those guys have been equally as important in pulling guys aside or having an ear to some of our younger players in moments like that, and it's been just a great collective effort overall.

And I think that's a lot of the reason why we are where we are right now.

Q. In this present moment, are you having as much fun as you did when you were younger? Does the nervous excitement, it's got to that you -- keep even keel all you want, but it's got to be there, right?

EVAN LONGORIA: I'm as excited as I've been for a game -- the playoffs is always fun. But it doesn't get any more special for me personally, obviously, being home, being born and raised here. I have my family here.

And just the opportunity and the things that we've overcome as a group this year, it makes it really, really fun.

I think I touched on it a little bit in one of my interviews maybe the other day or whatever, but the experience doesn't get any less fun, it just changes. Like, as a young player, I'm experiencing the postseason and stuff like that in a different light than 15 years later when I look at the joy in like a different way.

I don't really know how to describe it other than I get this different kind of joy from being around some guys who haven't been there before, or just playing this different role that I had 10 years ago on the team and kind of just drawing a lot of satisfaction from that experience as well.

Yeah, different but same energy, same excitement, same butterflies going into the game that I had a long time ago.

Q. Is also the essence of it, you don't know what next year is going to bring and this is the end of your career? Does this make it even more special because you have to enjoy every moment?

EVAN LONGORIA: Yeah, I mean, I felt like every time -- well, probably past the first time that I made the playoffs, I don't think I knew what I was thinking the first time I made the playoffs, just excited. But I think every time you make the playoffs it's like you always have that sort of those moments during the game, going into the game, going into the series.

It's not so much of an end-of-career thing. It's like you know you're playing do-or-die baseball. And so I think I try and kind of like savor every moment, take every moment in in the playoffs and take little mental pictures and remember those things, just not for the sake of it being maybe my last year, but just the memories of being in the postseason again and enjoying that.

Q. Simply 10 years ago, you could think about how this is going to repeat itself at some point; it's going to happen again. But now you don't know.

EVAN LONGORIA: I agree. I see your point. I know what you're getting at. I guess I'm not looking at it in that way right now. But if it happens to be, I'll have the memories in my mind no matter what.