Torey Lovullo's Pre-Game One Press Conference

The Arizona Diamondbacks are close to taking on the Texas Rangers for the World Series Championship to determine who is the best team in the 2023 MLB season. The young and surprising D-backs are determined to make their long-time Manager Torey Lovullo proud. He spoke with the media ahead of Game 1 which starts tonight at 5 p.m. AZ time.

Manager Lovullo spoke on the nerves and mentality of the players entering a loud environment in Texas and entering Game One of the World Series. He said "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."

He briefly touched upon the fact that the D-backs have disproven that young rookie teams choke in the playoffs by pointing out that "we have very high-functioning, high-performing players that just happen to be young."

The D-backs announced their roster today and the only change was that left-handed third baseman Jace Peterson was added in exchange for reliever Slade Cecconi. When asked why, Lovullo said "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."

Manager Lovullo also touched on the fact that he might be forced to let Brandon Pfaadt pitch deeper in Game Three of the World Series just due to the fact they are likely to have a bullpen game for Game 4. Lovullo said Ït might mean that Brandon does have to go a little deeper into the game. I've been going 18 plus or minus four...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."

The Texas Rangers possess one of the best offenses in baseball with eight hitters capable of taking you deep at any point in the game. Lovullo spoke on that saying that "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... 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 this game plan.

He has relied upon one left-handed reliever more than any other left-handed pitcher in the D-backs bullpen and that's Andrew Saalfrank. It's worked to a varying degree of success. Saalfrank's first four appearances in which he pitched just 1.2 innings were strong. He gave up one hit, one walk, and struck out one. However, his last four appearances were a mess. Over just 1.2 innings, he gave up a hit, three runs, seven walks, and just a single strikeout. With the pressure of the World Series and how every pitch is life or death, perhaps Lovullo will opt to go with another reliever like Joe Mantiply, a veteran over the rookie.

Or perhaps not. Manager Lovullo spoke on this very alarming issue saying that "there's specific reasons why he's been pitching in those games. He has gotten us big outs. 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."

If Lovullo were to shift Saalfrank down in the bucking order for the bullpen, he would be replaced by another left-handed reliever, either Mantiply or Kyle Nelson.

If there is anything that Lovullo is going to take from the NLCS and apply to the World Series, it would be "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."

His parting words for the press conference were this "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."