Ben Verlander's 'Flippin' Bats' welcomes White Sox pitcher Lance Lynn
In baseball, it's often about the journey.
That's certainly the case for Lance Lynn. The Chicago White Sox pitcher joined Ben Verlander on "Flippin' Bats" to talk about his amazing journey, which will soon reach an important milestone – 10 years as a major leaguer.
Lynn has had an interesting run, including stops with the St. Louis Cardinals, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, and now Chicago, where he has reunited with his old manager from St. Louis, Tony La Russa. And he's been a solid contributor along the way, compiling a 3.53 ERA across 265 career appearances.
Lynn talked about all of it, from his days as an Indianapolis kid playing in the Little League World Series, to playing in the actual World Series as a rookie in 2011, and much more. And he did it all while speaking from a dungeon-like tunnel in the bowels of Guaranteed Rate Field.
One of the stories Lynn shared came from the 2011 World Series, when he was thrown into the fire against the Rangers as a 24-year-old reliever. With his Cardinals facing elimination in Game 6, Lynn gave up back-to-back home runs to Adrian Beltre and Nelson Cruz.
Luckily his team rallied to force Game 7, and Lynn was shocked when La Russa sent him back out to protect a 6-2 lead in the eighth inning with a title on the line.
"I was a rookie – you're coming back after giving up back-to-back homers the night before," Lynn said. "And then I think Tony put me in a situation where I was facing I think Michael Young, Josh Hamilton and it was the middle of their lineup. And I was like, 'What is he doing?' I'm getting loose and I'm like, 'Hell, you can't be worse than last night so just let it fly.' That was my thought process.
"Tony, still to this day, was like, 'Oh, you were going back out there. You had no fear so I wasn't worried about it.'"
Lynn would get Hamilton to ground out and Young to pop out before striking out Beltre. An inning later, he was celebrating a championship.
"It was a crazy 24 hours for me where I thought I was the worst pitcher in the world, to the next night celebrating a World Series," he said.
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Lance Lynn explains what it was like going from thinking he’d cost his team a championship to hoisting the World Series trophy 24 hours later.
Lynn also discussed his desire to help La Russa win another championship with the Chicago White Sox, the excitement of playing college ball at Ole Miss, his vow to play in the Little League World Series (which he would do) and more.
To hear more from Lynn, check out the full episode below.
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Ben Verlander is an MLB Analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the "Flippin' Bats" podcast. Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, Verlander was an All-American at Old Dominion University before he joined his brother, Justin, in Detroit as a 14th-round pick of the Tigers in 2013. He spent five years in the Tigers organization. Follow him on Twitter @Verly32.