Red Sox Legend Dustin Pedroia Aids NL Squad Amid Playoff Push

The Boston Red Sox were officially knocked out of playoff contention Wednesday, leaving team legend Dustin Pedroia without a dog in the fight.

Well, that would have been the case if he didn’t have ties elsewhere.

Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo brought Pedroia in to give his team a few words of wisdom last Friday, according to Arizona Sports. Lovullo coached Pedroia with the Red Sox from 2013-16.

Pedroia, who currently lives in Arizona and attended college at Arizona State, didn’t need much direction from his former bench coach.

“I asked him, ‘Do you want me to give you any guidelines?’ And he said, ‘I’m good. I know exactly what I want to tell your team because I watch you guys every single night,'” Lovullo said Tuesday, per Arizona Sports.

The message essentially revolved around the fact that the Diamondbacks are one of the youngest teams in baseball, and why that doesn’t matter in the eyes of Pedroia.

“‘Don’t tell me a young team can’t win a world championship,'” Pedroia said, according to Lovullo. “He immediately takes your sightline to, ‘Yeah, we can do this. We got this and we’re good enough to do it.'”

Pedroia, of course, was a rookie on the Red Sox’s World Series team in 2007.

The Diamondbacks responded to Pedroia’s visit with a series sweep of the Chicago Cubs, taking hold of the second National League Wild Card spot in the process. They’ll open up a series with the New York Yankees on Friday.