MLB WORLD SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS RANGERS

October 27, 2023

Torey Lovullo

Globe Life Field

Arizona Diamondbacks

Pregame 1 Press Conference

Q. How are the guys feeling today? What's the attitude? What's the mentality? It's World Series Game 1.

TOREY LOVULLO: I can't, believe it or not, tell a difference in their attitude and makeup of their day -- and the construction of their day, I should say. We had morning meetings today at the hotel. Everybody seemed to be in a great spot. It's after breakfast. And I'm mindful of the potential shift in mindsets or emotions.

But our guys have been maintaining this mindset, as far as I can tell, from day one of the playoffs.

So, we know that it's Game 1. I don't want them to run away from the fact that it's a special venue, a special time. And it's going to be exciting. But they deserve to be here, and I think they're ready for this opportunity to show the world they're a good baseball team.

Q. You've disproven the belief that young, rookie teams choke in the big arena. You went to a very difficult arena, defeating the Dodgers, defeating the Phillies at home in Game 7. How have you been able to keep your young players focused, not to lose their focus in such a big, important arena as far as the players?

TOREY LOVULLO: Well, first of all, we have very high-functioning, high-performing players that just happen to be young. And I think they love the opportunity to show everybody how good of a baseball player they are.

Part two of the answer, for me, is that we talked about it before. We've talked about the reality of what's there. We embrace the reality of everything that potentially could happen and it's brought up and talked about.

So once it is upon us, I feel like they've already digested it and moved past it and they're ready to compete.

We just talked about competing. That's all we want to do. We want to compete and maintain our competitive edge every single day. But we have different conversations inside of our clubhouse.

Yeah, we talk about bats and balls and gloves and stuff like that, but we talk about emotionally supporting one another and understanding, if we can, what's around each corner. And different players and different coaches can help each other peek around the corner to see that young players are ready to perform.

Q. As far as roster decision goes, does that just come down to Peterson giving you more options late in the game, and you feel like you can navigate a seven-game series with 12 pitchers?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yes, I think so. There were times I looked at the lineup card, we were flexed a little bit. And I had Jordan Lawlar, (indiscernible) and a backup catcher. I thought it would be nice to have another left-handed option there.

If it comes down to it, we feel like the importance of that left-handed at-bat helping us win a game, and maybe a left-handed start, I don't know, could help us win a game over the fact that the 13th pitcher or 14th pitcher could be there to help us get through a game that we don't want to use our A or B reliever.

That's what the conversation was for the majority of the day yesterday. And we're thrilled that Jace has been working his butt off to make this happen. I know he's super excited.

Q. What's it been like for you and your guys to go from being baseball's best-kept secret to now everybody knows you?

TOREY LOVULLO: I'm picking up on that vibe. I think we're getting some respect, and I like that. Nothing excites me more than watching what's happening there in Arizona. The kids are dressing up, going to school in Arizona Diamondbacks stuff and stuff flying off the shelves in sporting goods stores.

We love that. And we've talked about what that's going to feel like, again, one of those type of questions, what it's going to feel like when we get to that point. We talked about getting to that mountain, making sure it's the right mountain, climbing that mountain together. And here we are, there's two teams standing at the top of the mountain.

We'll continue to fight the same way we do every single day and that's connected and prepared. And I feel like this group is just seeing it as another challenge to go out and play their best baseball game against another team that happens to be really good, that happens to be the other team standing at the end of the line. That's how they're approaching it.

And I don't want them to look beyond that. I think they've probably had conversations with their family and friends about how exciting it is to be here. I think when they walk in there and they get between the white lines at, whatever, 7:07 today, they'll be ready to compete with blocking out all the, are we good enough? Yes we are. Do we have to prove anything to the world? No we don't. Let's prove it to ourselves every single day.

Q. When you look at that Texas lineup and kind of game plan for how you want your pitchers to attack, what stands out most to you about that group of hitters they had there in the starting nine?

TOREY LOVULLO: It's deep. It's real deep. I think I said yesterday when you have Lowe hitting seventh and Young eighth and Taveras hitting ninth, those are good enough hitters you could push them up about any other lineup inside of Major Leagues. We know it's extremely deep.

We've got to be spot on. We have to have a really good game plan going into this. And we can't come off of it. We've got to make adjustments and be adaptable, at-bat to at-bat and inning to inning, which we will be.

But it's a deep lineup, and you've got to manage it 1 through 9. There's no let-up, I expect our pitchers by the end of the night tonight, especially our starters in Zac, I expect them to be emotionally exhausted from continuing to keep pushing through his game plan.

Q. With Pfaadt, you went from 60 to 70. You took them out in the fourth inning in Philly. What's your expectations now? Do you take the leash off of him a little bit and see how far he can go, or do you still go with the four innings. That's part one. Part two, with carrying less pitchers how is that going to affect what you do with him in Game 3? And I'm assuming you have a bullpen in Game 4.

TOREY LOVULLO: They're connected for sure. We talked about that. You hit that right on. Games 3 and 4 might be a big concern for us. It might mean that Brandon does have to go a little deeper into the game. And I've been going 18 plus or minus four, that's what I've adopted late in the season.

So we'll continue to march on towards that. But the anticipation is that we've got to be a little bit crafty and a little more careful knowing we don't have 50 or 60 pitches sitting on that 14th pitcher in the bullpen.

Once again, we're expecting to go out and play our finest games and that we're going to be budgeting for A and B relievers to get us through those moments.

Specifically speaking with Brandon, he has shown a lot and has earned the right to potentially pitch a little bit deeper in the game, and I'll read and react.

Game 1 and 2 will determine what happens in Game 3 for sure. We'll be coming off an off day so we can be a little creative. But it's definitely something we talked about.

We budget for the best-case scenario, worst case scenario, blend them together and have four or five different plans. We'll be very mindful about watching what's going on, reading and reacting.

Q. What's your take on Brandon's evolution? First half of the season there were games where you couldn't wait to take him out, and I didn't want to see him pitch. Now he's pitching great.

TOREY LOVULLO: I think it's just the evolution of a young pitcher, young mind and a young athlete. We're very careful about how we talk to and treat and bring along those guys. And there were times where our plan was to have him come up and start three or four games in a row to get a look at him, get his spikes dirty and get him ready for the next step.

But the starts at any time go that well. We would recognize and see the data. We would see the input there. We would also watch the results and our gut was telling us a story about what he had to improve upon. And we pulled the plug on him a couple times and sent him down.

But with each time he was told what he specifically had to get to. I think the final adjustment, which was the most critical adjustment, was moving him on the rubber which changed the shape of his pitches coming into home plate. Since that time he's really taken off. I think he went from the right to the far left.

But once again, that's our architect in Brent Strom getting information, a player trusting it. Acting the reasons why, which our players were supposed to do, we asked them to. Now that he's come back, he's been one of our top performers.

And with each start that he gets, he earns a little bit more. You've got to earn your keep in life. And I think he has trust. It's just how far can he go? We're going to continue to push that boundary each time.

Q. Obviously the back end of your bullpen has been fantastic for the last month or two months. In particular, in the playoffs, Saalfrank has struggled with his command and walks. Do you envision changing up the way those last three or four innings shape out at all with matchups and with his role?

TOREY LOVULLO: I don't know that answer. I don't know that answer. I'm going to weed out -- we have three lefties to match up. I'll have discussions and figure out who are the best options 1, 2, 3. Two hits, nine or 11, 12 walks, 19 batters faced. It's not ideal.

But there's specific reasons why he's been pitching in those games. He has gotten big outs. And he has done his best to protect things. It hasn't gone perfectly. We know he gets on rolls. When he gets on a roll, he becomes very effective. I don't want to run from him. He's on this roster for a reason. Where and when he pops out, I don't know, but those are discussions we'll have in the next couple of hours.

Q. If you changed that role, would you be more likely to go with the last few innings all right-handed relievers or potentially have Mantiply or Nelson in some of those higher up spots?

TOREY LOVULLO: I'd probably bump up a lefty, if it wasn't Saalfrank. It might be, I don't know, but I'd probably up a lefty in the matchup that way.

Q. Curious if there's anything you guys learned in Games 1 and 2 of the NLCS in Philly that help you now here in Texas in Games 1 and 2 against the Rangers. I know it's a deep question, but anything you can think of.

TOREY LOVULLO: Collectively, I'm not exactly sure. I think we digested those games. And that's probably one thing I could say, is you're never out of a series at any point. We won four of the last five games against the Phillies to advance here. And it was so bad in Arizona, I heard that you couldn't give away tickets to Game 3.

So things can change quickly, very quickly. And you've got a pulse and a heartbeat, you've still got a chance. That's what I would say collectively.

Personally, just making sure you slow down the game, never let the game get too far from you by being too high or too low and just shoot it right in the middle.

You're conditioned for these moments. Like I said, we're adrenaline junkies, and you look for that flush of adrenaline when good things happen. So just to slow it down for me, that's probably the most important thing.