I’ve had a day to digest the fact we’re going to the World Series and I’m still extremely excited. I feel like I’ve had a lot of sleep, when in reality, I haven’t. I think it’s because of how excited I am and how happy I am to have this opportunity. I’m so proud of this ballclub, and so proud to be a part of it, and the way we’ve done it. So, to me, my No. 1 intent is to make sure I take it all in.

Going through Boston, my hometown, made it a lot more special for me. And I think everyone was excited about how we got here. We earned it. We had to keep coming until the end to finally come away with that victory in Game 7. You can’t understand how joyful I was after that game. I was the last one out of this clubhouse. After everybody left, I’m like, “Oh my gosh, everyone’s gone, I have to go home.”

No matter how happy we are to be in the World Series, we are far from content. Don’t get me wrong, we’re extremely happy where we’re at right now, we’re loving it. We’re enjoying it. We know we have to keep it going and prepare for the next series, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with realizing what we’ve accomplished to this point.

We proved a lot to ourselves by winning the American League pennant. All of this wasn’t easy. Boston wasn’t easy. Being able to recover from a difficult game at Fenway and to be victorious says a lot about this ballclub. Now we move on to the World Series and we’ve got to keep it going.