I had a chance to choose a couple different places and, well, I grew up - I was a small-town kid from Illinois, so No. 1, just trying to win a championship for my home state.

Half the time, I have trouble following our own pitcher's sequence.

It was like a heavyweight fight, man. Just blow for blow, everybody playing their heart out. The Indians never gave up either, and I can't believe we're finally standing, after 108 years, finally able to hoist the trophy.

Like anybody else that goes and does their job, there's a way to do your job with excellence.

You want to represent Christ well with doing you job, first and foremost, because that's what you're there to do.

I never even thought about playing professionally. I didn't think that was a possibility for a little kid from Illinois.

It really comes down to God opening the doors for me, and I'm trying to walk through them doing the best I can.

I didn't ever realize that my ceiling would be this high, that I would be able to play at the major-league level. But here I am. I've been doing it for a while now, so it's certainly a blast. It's something that I want to cherish and make the most of.

I didn't realize the ceiling that I had, and I don't think a lot of players understand what they're capable of. Some of them dream of what they're capable of, but you don't really understand until you get in the moment and you give it everything you got and see in the end where you can end up.