Latest reunion for Pressly means it’s old home week
His time with the Astros has invariably brought a postseason reunion for Ryan Pressly.
Houston’s closer has twice pitched against the Red Sox, the team who drafted him out of high school in 2007. This year’s American League Division Series saw him face the Minnesota Twins, with whom he broke into the majors and spent six seasons with before a July 2018 trade to the Astros.
The latest “This Is Your Life” moment for Pressly? It literally hits close to home.
The Dallas-area native, who graduated from Flower Mound Marcus High School while growing up a Texas Rangers fan, returns to his old stomping grounds as the AL Championship Series shifts to Arlington with the Rangers up 2-0.
His wife Kat is handling ticket requests, with Pressly saying her phone “has been blowing up.”
There is one stipulation, though, for anyone who does get tickets through the Presslys,
“Yeah, they’re not allowed to wear Rangers stuff in the family section,” Pressly said. “I’m sure a lot of my family and friends are going to be running around. I know a lot of my best friends up there have been texting me and wanting to get in there. I’m excited to see them and excited to get back up to Dallas.”
The 34-year-old Pressly’s Rangers fandom predated the franchise’s greatest on-field success, making the World Series in 2010 and 2011. He said former third baseman Michael Young, a Rangers fixture from 2000-12, “was my hero.”
“Watching him, how he played the game and how he carried himself,” Pressly said. “And then I was lucky enough to get to know him a little bit during the (World Baseball Classic).
“He’s what I always thought, just a true professional. And I was like a little kid when I met him. I got to play against him my rookie year (2013) when he was with the Phillies. I think that was his last year. So I was extremely excited to get to know him in the WBC.”
Wednesday’s Game 3 will not be the first ALCS game Pressly has attended in Arlington. He was in the stands for one during the Rangers’ World Series runs. He clarified he wasn’t there as a fan as he was a Boston farmhand at the time. But the experience left him motivated.
“Seeing how they carried themselves and me wanting to be out there on that field just made me work harder and harder because I wanted to be in that situation, whether it be with the Rangers, Astros, Red Sox, whoever it might have been to give me an opportunity to put that jersey on,” Pressly said.
“I just wanted to pitch in the postseason and experience what they were being able to experience.”
He’s gotten that chance now and become virtually automatic. Monday’s shutout inning in Game 2 extended his postseason scoreless innings streak to 17 1⁄3 spanning 16 outings. Pressly’s 13 consecutive converted saves is the longest streak to begin a postseason career since the stat became official in 1969.
While he expressed excitement to return home, he didn’t find his latest reunion any different than previous ones in the postseason.
“It’s the same game,” he said. “Those guys put their pants on one leg at a time, just like everybody else. Just happens to be in my hometown.”