There are two challenges for a club, the first is the regular season, a six-month grind. So if you happen to win your division and qualify for October, I think that is the hardest thing to do.

We worked hard to get here. Our club has been so relentless, and we're in a great position. ... The club has been absolutely relentless, and as strong-minded as you can be. This club is mentally and physically very, very tough.

What's different about this club, when you have this many setbacks, it's usually part of why you don't win or you barely squeeze by in the last week of the season with a good but not great record. To have this kind of run and play this quality of baseball for this long is why this club deserves a very different kind of credit.

We worked hard to get here. The club has been so relentless, as strong-minded as you can be.

I would think the biggest misconception about our club was we have this powerhouse offensive team.

When you go against a guy like Greg Maddux or a Roger Clemens, I don't care if it's a regular season game, is a guy with that kind of command and if he starts getting an edge he pushes and pushes it so it's up to whoever the umpire is,