(Reuters) – The Arizona Diamondbacks are ready to show they are the real deal after an improbable run to the World Series, manager Torey Lovullo said on Thursday as the team prepares to face the Texas Rangers on the road in Friday’s Game 1.
Arizona reached the post-season as a sixth-seed wild card and defied the odds to reach Major League Baseball’s biggest stage, sweeping the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers before recovering from a 3-2 deficit to beat the Philadelphia Phillies.
Their charmed run confounded the expectations of commentators and armchair experts alike, though Lovullo said the team had always taken the critics in their stride.
“We just put it on our list and keep those receipts and walk around with a little bit more of a chip on our shoulder. It gives you a little bit more motivation,” he told reporters.
“Some of those things do really bother me because nobody knows the magic that’s sitting inside that clubhouse right now. Nobody knows what we’re capable of doing on a daily basis. Nobody knows how hard we’re working to make today happen.”
The “D-backs” face another unexpected contender in the Fall Classic, with the fellow wild-card Rangers on the hunt for their first championship title.
“Hopefully people start to respect this ball club,” said Lovullo, who won the World Series as a coach with the Boston Red Sox in 2013. “They better because we’re here, and it’s real.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Ken Ferris)
