Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo still feeling ‘raw emotion’ after World Series loss

In the wake of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ World Series loss in five games, it’s a reflective time for all, and manager Torey Lovullo is no different.

As part of his final weekly appearance of the season on Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo on Thursday, Lovullo echoed his sentiments from the night before, needing time to himself to really come to grips with the totality of the 2023 D-backs season.

“We just want to make this Valley proud of us,” Lovullo said. “We just want to go out there ever single day and represent this state to the best of our ability and win a world championship.”

Lovullo cited the post-series celebrations after each advancement as a personal favorite memory from this postseason run. He loved seeing the 23-year-olds and not 23-year-olds all act like 23-year-olds during those celebrations.

Candidly, Lovullo spoke to some managerial regrets throughout the run, including not going to high-leverage relievers like Ryan Thompson and Kevin Ginkel earlier in Game 4’s bullpen game.

The manager also had “a little bit” of regret with how the D-backs approached Corey Seager, the eventual World Series MVP, who had a few clutch plays throughout the series.

“We threw some gutter balls. We made some mistakes. It was lack of execution, and we need to be better about that the next time,” Lovullo explained.

Though he wouldn’t call it a regret, Lovullo also said he thought about moving Christian Walker out of the clean-up spot because of his hitting woes, but that they didn’t feel they had a better option. Plus, Walker had a solid Game 3 that Lovullo thought may give him some momentum into a good matchup in Game 4.

Valley sports fans may see Lovullo around the area over the off-season; he says he wants to stay in town for much of the winter and support the other teams in Phoenix before spring training opens up.