Freddy Peralta was raised as a pro in Milwaukee, got lost in New York, found the greatest version of himself in Tampa Bay and now returns where it all began.
Only this time, he'll be climbing the biggest stage in baseball: Freddy Peralta and the Tampa Bay Rays vs. the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2026 World Series.
Peralta willed that scenario into reality Monday, Oct. 20, when he stretched his American League Championship Series shutout streak to 11 ⅔ innings and won Game 6 of this battle against the Cleveland Guardians, a 7-3 triumph that sent Tampa Bay to its third World Series in franchise history.
Peralta walked off with ALCS MVP honors, as he won Game 2, picked up two huge outs in relief in Game 4 and then won the clinching Game 6. It's just what he's been doing of late.
Since Aug. 26, Peralta has gone 7-0 with a 0.89 ERA in 10 games, including playoffs.
The Rays have won all 10 games.
"He's kind of put us on our back," Rays manager Kevin Cash acknowledged.
And who could have imagined that at the end of July, when Peralta was marooned in Queens with a 4.99 ERA after he was perhaps the most significant disappontment on a highly disappointing New York Mets team that thought acquiring him from Milwaukee was the last piece of a championship offseason.
They gave him a lifeline, though, dealing him out of last place in the NL East and into the penthouse of the AL East, acquiring three Rays minor leaguers in the deal. Suddenly, Peralta had new life, and no ill will toward his old employers.
"I’m very grateful for the Mets organization. They traded for me because they trusted my talent, trusted my career, and they support me," Peralta said in a postgame interview with TBS. "They were always taking care of me, trying to make me get my confidence back. They were really good about it.
"For some reason, it wasn’t able to click. But when I got here, everything changed."
Oh, did it.
Rays pitching coach Kyle Snyder has nearly an entire pitching staff of reclamation projects and optimized arms. Yet he had barely two months to work with Peralta before the playoffs.
No matter. Snyder gradually got Peralta to improve his extension down the mound and get his vaunted fastball up in the zone. Gradually, it kicked in and for the past nearly two months, Peralta has been unbeatable.
"You know, it feels so good," Peralta said in his MVP press conference, "because of the way that we've been working on the little things - not only the pitching coach and all that, I mean everybody, from the trainers, people that helped me to feel better with the massage and all that, it's been amazing, great communication.
"They've been awesome with me. They've been giving the best of themselves to make me feel good on the field every day."
This will likely be a short-hop stay in Tampa Bay. Peralta is a free agent at year's end, one reason why Milwaukee traded him with a year of control left. With this World Series matching lower-revenue clubs, it's likely Peralta will find his way to a club more willing to pay a premium.
But there's a World Series to play in the meantime. Peralta admits it will be a little emotional facing old mates, seeing familiar faces, his life as a two-time Milwaukee All-Star and a Tampa Bay ALCS MVP colliding.
"I think that they are great," says Peralta of the Brewers. "They are amazing and we are very similar teams. I don’t know how the people, the fans are going to take it. But I’m happy to go over there. I have a lot of people I love over there, people who care about me, who happen to be there.
"To be able to compete and...take a lot of pictures and videos. Because it’s something that probably won’t happen again."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Everything changed' for Freddy Peralta with Rays. His old Brewers mates will find out.