It’s impossible not to love postseason baseball.

The Tampa Bay Rays knew they were in for a tough matchup with Justin Verlander on the hill in a do-or-die game for the Rays, but they got off to an extremely hot start by scoring three runs in the first inning, which included a solo shot from Tommy Pham. The 31-year-old has been the Rays’ best offensive player this series and he was at it again on Tuesday, finishing 3-for-5 with a home run, one RBI and one run scored.

After the game, Pham was asked who he’d like to thank for getting him to where he’s at right now, and he gave a heartfelt, honest answer.
 

Pham should be extremely proud of himself, not just for making it to the big leagues and coming up clutch, but for how much he’s battled over the years to get to where he is today.
 

The 2006 16th round draft pick put together a fantastic year for the Rays as he played a career-high 145 games and hit 21 home runs and 68 RBI to go with 25 stolen bases, a .273 batting average and a .818 OPS.

(H/T Twitter/MLB)