RIVER OF DREAMS: THE ASTROS VALENCIA STORY | MLB EUROPE PLAY STORIES

we're going to try to be aggressive from the beginning whoever wins this game wins the league it's a very important game I'm ready I'm ready always down to the wire you got to grind it out [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] my name is Juan Garcia and I am manager as well as co-founder of the Valencia Astros baseball club a club is sort of like a stool with three legs one is the top team another is the youth program and the other is the community in 2001 uh we had a very small club we had the senior team with 15 players and we just had one 11 and under team with 14 kids but shortly after that we started to promote at schools during their fiz Ed classes we would teach them baseball every year we do this promotion with over 2,000 kids at the schools so we've been doing it for 15 years we're talking about 30,000 kids and that's been very very positive through these promotions we have kids that uh they can join the club at age six go through our whole program make it to the senior team and play in the top division for example LS Galia he went through the whole system he's part of the culture of the club and he could be our role model for many other children that could could go through the system my name is l Galia I play for asro Valencia and I play outfielder I play in the Spanish baseball League it's 10 teams playing we play for three championships we play European Championship kings cup and the national league we travel to play around all the country because it's a national league Valencia for me is the the best city jya park it's really beautiful place to play baseball because it's all around Sports fields and for me it's like a sport City in a natural place this was formally the riverbed of the river Tua which was the reason for the uh founding of the city by the Romans more than 2,000 years ago in 1957 there was a huge flood and it uh flooded more than 50% of the city so in the 60s there was a detour of the river to the south of the city what was the riverbed has become 10ks of sports facilities and parks and many believe it's the most beautiful Park in all of Spain we say in Spanish it's the pulon ver I was born in Valencia I was 7 years old and one of the coaches comes to my school and I tried it at at the physical education one day and I like it I decide to play baseball when I joined to Astros y team was good for me because I can share my time with senior team the old players told me that you need to be a good person and good and good partner with your mates because you're going to share a lot of time together you need respect hard work discipline routine since I was 16 years old I start to coach and I was coaching Astros uh yth teams and then I took part of the Valencia Astro Academy coaching and then we found exclusive Sports Center we found this because the kids needs more more time and more facilities to practice they really go work hard because they they really want to improve so it's it's a pleasure for for the for the coaches to to train this this kind of of players I really love to have any something like this when I was kid it's like a dream for [Music] me uh my name is Tanner donals I play first base in Outfield uh for the Valencia Astros I got into baseball through my dad he played in the big league for a long time so I I grew up at the stadium he was drafted by the Mets 87 played for the Astros Red Sox a little bit in Japan so he kind of had an overseas experience as well and then Dodgers and Diamondbacks but yeah it was always good to have someone that's done it before that you can kind of go to and teach you along the way so I ended up getting drafted uh by the Tigers in 2015 played there two seasons and that's kind of what led to a plan over in Europe after that I did Zurich three seasons also warsa Poland for 3 months one in Italy and then two seasons here in Spain I grew up on the beach in California so this kind of had everything that I've been looking for the level of play kind of the culture here and being close to the beach and the weather so it kind of was like the total package being in Valencia everyone seemed like a family Everyone likes to hang out after games enjoy a beer that's kind of how it is in a lot of countries in Europe so it's really competitive everyone wants to win but it's also this family kind of camaraderie that makes it really special and a reason why I keep coming back every [Music] year tomorrow is the last series we have this year it's the last two games of the Season we are going to face an to see who wins the national league fortunately we still have a chance we're one game behind tenie they're a very strong Club they've got very good players it's a double header so we need to win both games to win the championship so if they win one they're they're the Champs if we win two then we're the Champs of Spain if we win this weekend is the first time that Asos Valencia wins a kings cup and National League at same year yeah I'm definitely confident going in I have trust in our two starting pitchers so Yan Torres Gomez Val for [Music] that that final inning was really really really good good team win the next game we are we are winning the national league in the last 8 to 10 years we've had an important influx of immigration from Latin American countries families that had Spanish roots and many of these families are coming back [Music] Astro baseball it plays a really important role in our integration to society it was really tough at the beginning because we speak the same language but it's not the same culture with Astros and with the baseball we made like a really nice and good family they speak like the same language and I'm not talking about the Spanish language I'm talking about the love for the sports our club is a Melting Pot Cuban or Spanish or Venezuelan they're all Astros we're all the same and one whoever wins this game wins the league it's a very important game [Music] [Applause] the second game you got to grind it out no Panic on our side just take good at bats that's it kind of get to the next [Music] [Applause] [Music] guy woo oh [Applause] we always believe until the end I'm feeling great I'm feeling great and I really need a holiday I need vacations