The captain of the TigersLicey,emilio bonifacepointed out howthe “change of direction” in the mentality of the teamto reach the Final Series, the game played with the Gigantes del Cibao in the Round Robin, in which the blue team won the ninth inning victory 5 runs for 4.
Bonifacio narrated how surprised his teammates were to see the 37-year-old center fielder score the decisive run that put them with 8 wins and 6 losses in the “All Against All”.
“You don’t realize and you don’t knowbut the reaction that I saw guys, how they looked at me like fuck this guy at this age! How happy they were, because we were lost with the work that Fernando Rodney (opposite team’s closer) had been doing,” he said.
Emilio Bonifacio also confessed in his participation the “Fan Podcast” that their “fear” in the postseason was the new generation of young players, indicating that “the atmosphere changes” and as players “they feel pressure to want to do more” in that phase of the tournament.
The player mentioned that during the entire winter season of 2022-2023 they kept a winning and different mentality and in that sense he said that the motto they kept was “take good turns”.
In addition to this, he noted that despite some fans sometimes considering “he wasn’t hitting”, he felt good about taking turns in which, despite not hitting hits, the pitchers made “at least eight pitches” and jokingly said that Being the leadoff hitter “nobody tells him” what are the pitches he will face.
Regarding the home run that surprised the fans, also against the Francomacorisan team, in which the blue team won seven 7 races for 5, He confessed that this really “is not his style of play.”
The final
Boniface, who He was the Most Valuable Player of the Round Robin, stated that the victory of the team’s final series was due to the great work that all the players did during the regular series, the Round Robin and the final, in which Licey won the 23rd crown, ensuring that “We worked to be in this situation.”
Would I go to the Classic?
On the “campaign” that the fans have started for a possible participation in the next World Baseball Classic, He said that he would not like someone who “can contribute more” to be left by taking him and leaving him “sitting.”
“If they are going to make a roster to take me, they are going to leave someone who can contribute more than me, I have no problem because I am going to support the Dominican Republic whether I am there or not,” he said.
He also stated that he was invited twice (2009 and 2013) to participate in the tournament, but due to labor issues at that time, he could not participate.
“I had two opportunities in 2009 and in 2013 to go to the Classic, that is, I was invited, but I couldn’t go because of the team that was at the time.”