AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: RANGERS VS ASTROS

October 16, 2023

Ryan Pressly

Minute Maid Park

Houston Astros

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. How many tickets are you giving away for Game 3? What sizeable contention will you have in Dallas?

RYAN PRESSLY: I have no idea. You have to ask my wife. She's the one handling all that. Her phone has been blowing up.

Q. Along those lines, giving messaging to the family that anything is different this week that maybe you would normally do on a trip back to north Texas?

RYAN PRESSLY: Yeah, they're not allowed to wear Rangers stuff in the family section. I'm sure a lot of my family and friends are going to be running around. I know a lot of my best friends up there have been texting me and wanting to get in there. I'm excited to see them and excited to get back up to Dallas.

Q. I know you turned pro before the Rangers made their two World Series. Is there a favorite player or memory you have as your time as a Rangers fan?

RYAN PRESSLY: Michael Young was my hero. Watching him, how he played the game and how he carried himself. And then I was lucky enough to get to know him a little bit during the WBC.

He's what I always thought, just a true professional. And I was like a little kid when I met him. I got to play against him my rookie year when he was with the Phillies. I think that was his last year. So I was extremely excited to get to know him in the WBC.

Q. Your 13 saves are the longest streaks in saves became a thing in 1969. Do you think about that or how often do other people, teammates or family, point that out to you?

RYAN PRESSLY: I haven't really thought about it. I don't have any social media or anything like that, so I don't follow that stuff. I'm a big proponent of keeping your head down, going to work and doing your job; and when you look up, good things will happen. I want to keep continue doing my job and putting up zeroes and helping this team win.

Q. Since you got here, you pitched against your former organizations in the playoffs with the Red Sox and the Twins. How different is this going to be going against your childhood team?

RYAN PRESSLY: I don't think it's going to be any different. It's the same game. Those guys put their pants on one leg at a time, just like everybody else. Just happens to be in my hometown.

I'm pumped to experience it. The only time I got to experience the ALCS when the Rangers were in when I was up in the stands in -- I think it was 2010. And I never thought that I would be in this situation. So I'm just thankful to be here. And to be able to do it against the Rangers in the same kind of situation is going to be pretty fun for me.

Q. You mentioned being a Rangers fan in 2010. The following year when they came on strike from winning the World Series, what were your emotions as a fan?

RYAN PRESSLY: I wasn't necessarily a fan, I guess, because I was in pro ball at that point. But I just thought the atmosphere that they brought was really special. Those fans can get pretty rowdy up there, just like ours.

But I just -- seeing how they carried themselves and me wanting to be out there on that field just made me work harder and harder because I wanted to be in that situation, whether it be with the Rangers, Astros, Red Sox, whoever it might have been to give me an opportunity to put that jersey on.

I just wanted to pitch in the postseason and experience what they were being able to experience.