Dustin Pedroia has stayed present in the game of baseball since officially retiring in 2021, and he provided some motivational messages for one National League team as they prepared to make a push for the MLB postseason.
After all, he knows a thing or two about being on a young team in the postseason.
The Diamondbacks brought in the 2007 Rookie of the Year on Friday ahead of their series against the Chicago Cubs. Pedroia, who has known Arizona manager Torey Lovullo dating back to their days with the Red Sox organization, mentioned the 2007 Boston team that won the World Series.
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Pedroia, per Arizona Sports, told the team to “enjoy the playoff push” and brought up the 2007 Red Sox team. Even though the World Series winners boasted players like Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, their youth movement consisted of 23-year-old Pedroia, Jon Lester and Jacoby Ellsbury.
Basically, Pedroia told them just because the D-backs are young doesn’t automatically count them out.
“‘Don’t tell me a young team can’t win a world championship.’ He immediately takes your sightline … to ‘Yeah, we can do this. We got this and we’re good enough to do it,’” Lovullo said of Pedroia’s message.
What he said must have stuck with the Diamondbacks because they went on to sweep the Cubs and take over the second NL wild-card spot. It will be a tight race until the end, but Arizona has a lot of momentum on its side to try and gain some ground over the Miami Marlins and Cincinnati Reds.
The D-backs have won five straight games going into Friday’s series opener against the New York Yankees. Maybe it was Pedroia’s message giving them a little added motivation, and it will be interesting to see if he’s a regular visitor as Arizona continues to fight for a spot in the postseason.
