AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: RANGERS VS ASTROS

October 23, 2023

Bruce Bochy

Minute Maid Park

Texas Rangers

Postgame 7 Press Conference

Q. Could you put into words what Garcia has meant to you, especially in this series?

BRUCE BOCHY: He's one of our guys, I'll start with that. We're not surprised about what he did. I've seen him do it during the year. This guy's incredible talent, what he did.

And really we had contribution from everybody, but what he did is truly amazing, and how he recovered with that incident and came in here and great at-bats. He's just a talented guy that -- I'm not surprised by anything. Defensively, offensively we're lucky to have him.

Q. What would a fourth World Series title mean to you?

BRUCE BOCHY: I'll be honest, it's not -- I don't think about me. I'm riding their backs, trust me. This team, as I said, it's been an honor to watch them. And so it's great to be here. It's unreal that I'm here, to be honest. Sitting at the house for three years, and think here I am going to a World Series. Yeah, that's special. But it's more about them and trying to find a way to get a ring for those guys.

Q. You now are going to your fourth World Series but your third different team. What is different about this team compared to the one in San Diego and San Francisco?

BRUCE BOCHY: You know the World Series, obviously you have the talent. But this team has played with so much heart and determination as any club I've had. They all have. But it's just amazing how they kept getting up. We went through ups and downs with the injuries. We ran into a lot of streaks.

And I'll start with Houston. First of all, congratulations on them. It's amazing that they've been in seven consecutive Championship Series. And they had their way with us pretty much all year. And to come in here and do this shows you how determined they were to find a way.

Q. You look at Evan Carter, his impact on this series defensively, offensively tonight he gets a big double, he also gets on base a couple times. For a young player like that to have that cool demeanor like a veteran, what does that do for your lineup when you're able to set the card?

BRUCE BOCHY: I could see this in the kid in Spring Training, the calmness and confidence that he plays with. We put him in the 9 hole, and he was doing a great job of turning the lineup over. Then we put him in the 5 hole, didn't faze him. Then we put him in the 3 hole, that didn't faze him.

This kid has a nice career ahead of him. For a 21-year-old to be in the 3 hole and handle it the way he has, it says a lot about his makeup.

Q. In the ALDS when Seager hit the home run in Game 3, Nate Lowe said after the game he knew you were going to win after that, that kind of kicked it off. I wonder if there was the same kind of feeling in the dugout when Seager homered in the first inning tonight.

BRUCE BOCHY: Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that. He hit that home run. That's as much emotion as -- he does show emotion, but he really showed it when he came in. He fired up the whole club.

So I agree, that seemed like it just got us going. And it got contagious. I have to credit with him what happened early in that ball game, in the whole game, how excited he was and how fired up he got the whole club.

Q. One question, one follow-up on Carter, if Garcia hadn't been hurt in September, would Carter even have been promoted?

BRUCE BOCHY: We need the help, so no question that had a lot with Carter getting called up. We needed some help. We needed a shot in the arm with this offense, a guy that can get on base, speed, defense. Nothing against the other guys, but, yeah, sure, that had something to do with a young kid like this getting called up.

Q. The success in jumping on Javier early, a guy who hadn't lost a postseason start, he's been very tough these last two years, what was the key to jumping on him so quickly?

BRUCE BOCHY: I'll say this, our hitting guys had these guys ready. They followed the game plan, Donnie Ecker, Tim Hyers. They worked hard. They went in with a good game plan, stuck with it, and threw out some great at-bats. Because he's been so tough. He's got that Invisi-ball. And he's had incredible numbers in the postseason. We knew we had to work it out. Hitting guys did a tremendous job getting these guys ready.

Q. With Leclerc, he's been on this team so long and his impact just did you determine going into tonight no matter what the outcome was he was going to pitch in the 9th?

BRUCE BOCHY: Probably more importantly we wanted to close them out. We know how dangerous they are, that lineup and how good they are. I brought in the closer. But to your point, yeah, it was pretty special out there. We scored some more runs and Martin Perez who has been here a long time, too, so maybe honor him. It was a tough choice. But with the game not completely over or out of reach I just decided to go with Josy.

Q. We talked yesterday about the road team winning every game in the series, and now you guys have 8-0 this season on the road. What is it about you guys on the road this year?

BRUCE BOCHY: It's hard to explain some things. For us to go in Tampa against that great ball club and win there. And then go into Baltimore, who won over a hundred games, to go in there and win. It's just the heart and determination these guys have shown on the road. There's something about the road that does brings the team together. Especially that long road trip. After we lost in Seattle, that was as probably a point as we've had all year. But these guys have continued to get up, they've taken their punches, but they keep getting up. But there's no reason to explain what happened. They win three at our place, which they beat on us pretty good all year at our place, and for us to come in here to win four games just says a lot about them.