Tanner Houck couldn't find the words. Honestly, he couldn't find any words.
The moment blindsided the Red Sox pitcher.
He stopped talking, and started hugging his fiancee, Abigail Vazquez. The couple had known each other since senior year of high school, going down a path together that led them to this out-of-nowhere wave of emotions.
"I have tried to envision this moment since I started playing baseball," Houck told WEEI.com while standing in the middle of the Red Sox series-clinching celebration. "Since I have dreamed about being here and being in these moments. Honestly, for a while there I stopped dreaming about it only because I didn’t want any expectations when it came to this moment. I just wanted to live in it and experience everything it had to offer. And to hear the fans the way they were, and have AC at the helm and have Bushy and Walk and everyone else, including the front office people … I can’t put it into words.
"It definitely hit different. It makes me very emotional and I’m not a person who gets emotional very often. But it makes me emotional."
Houck wasn't alone.
The Fenway field was littered with family members, memories and excitement. It was the kind of package that is traditionally put on display when a team earns the right to advance in the postseason, and the Red Sox had just done with their 6-5, Game 4 win over the Rays.
Each of these are somewhat the same, yet still at least slightly different. For instance, the cardboard beer case found itself on top of the head of Christian Arroyo in the same fashion Jonathan Papelbon wore it 14 years before.
But the difference this time around wasn't difficult to decipher.
A speechless Houck. Bullpen coach Kevin Walker fighting back tears while walking through the handshake line. Garrett Whitlock standing by himself to once again capture every last memory possible. And, of course, Alex Cora letting his well-documented last few years lead to tears and hugs.
Will Middlebrooks knew. He had been part of those 2013 parties that came along on the way to winning the World Series. Those were not like this.
There were a lot of guys who had 10 years in the big leagues on that team," said Middlebrooks, who returned to Fenway in order to throw out the first pitch. "There are so many guys here who have never won anything, like high school, college, minor leagues. And now they are a series away from the World Series in the big leagues."
And while every World Series contender can stake claim to its fair share of twists and turns throughout a season, this Red Sox season must have felt like 324 games. That's why you saw what you saw after that Kiké Hernandez walk-off sacrifice fly.
"We’ve been battling this for 7 1/2 months," Walker said. "These guys are my family. All the coaches are like my brothers, and the players, we’re so close. To get this far is amazing and we’re not done yet.
"That 2020 was a tough year. Coming into spring training AC set the tone saying this team is good and we were going to go out and play. He always talked about October while we were in spring training, which I thought was really cool. It really set the tone that we were going to play in October. The belief system set in."
It clearly took root.
Case and point: Whitlock being called upon to get out of jam in the eighth inning with nobody out, the game tied at 5-5 and a runner standing on second. The Red Sox had built up the belief that this Rule 5 rookie could handle such things, and sure enough ...
"I definitely had nerves and everything, but … We got outs, so we’ll just say that," Whitlock said with a chuckle. "I was definitely nervous but at the same time, I just tried to execute each pitch. I got outs so that is all that matters.
"As soon as the game was over and everyone was running out and guys were hugging through the line I just kind of stepped back to the mound, looked at all the fans and looked at everything and just kind of soaked it in. I’m grateful to be in this spot and I’m humbled to be in this spot. I never know if this will ever happen again in my career. I want to soak it in, enjoy the moment."
And that's what the scene on the field was all about, perhaps even more than 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2013 or 2018.
Everyone was different, but what was seemingly the same would be the importance and satisfaction of getting this chance. As Houck said, it just hit a little different.
"It has been a roller coaster of a year from the first half to the second half to grinding the last three days to pushing to the Wild Card game," the rookie pitcher said. "To come out and do what we’ve done in the past few days, it has been a very emotional 48 hours, including the last two games going 13 innings to tonight. Kiké hitting an incredible sac fly. The selflessness on this team is 10 out of 10. It was all worth it in the end."
"We went through a lot, man," Xander Bogaerts said. "I know a lot of people maybe wrote us off. We had our tough moments this season, for sure. This has been a real grind, but I’m happy we can continue to play baseball, and we’re playing really good baseball."
And if they keep playing this way, there will be at least one more chance to get used to these sorts of things.