MLB WORLD SERIES: RAYS VS BREWERS

October 23, 2026

Christian Yelich

Sal Frelick

American Family Field

Milwaukee Brewers

Pregame 1 Press Conference

Q. You and Woody have been through this whole gamut together. What does it mean to have him on the World Series roster alongside you after basically a decade for both of you?

CHRISTIAN YELICH: I knew it was his goal. He kind of got the better news than expected after Arizona. He didn't really know what was going to happen or what the rest of the year was going to look like for him.

I know he's been working towards this, and he wanted to be out there if it's possible. That's why he kept coming in there and grinding. I'm super happy for him. I know the guys are all fired up too.

Q. Christian, again, after coming within a couple innings of this in 2018 and knowing the whole story for the organization since then, what did you think when you woke up this morning?

CHRISTIAN YELICH: It's just exciting. We've been close a few times. We've been knocking on the door to be in this series and have this opportunity. Now that it's finally here, it's awesome.

You kind of just see how excited everybody is in the city, and you can kind of feel the energy. It's been awesome. I think everybody is really looking forward to tonight and just getting this thing started.

Q. Since you've been here, you've seen the Brewers do the small market economic dance that it takes to be competitive. You lose some free agents, but you replace them in the farm system. And just the great job they've done doing it here to be so good for so long. What's it been like to watch that? Because you've been here the whole process.

CHRISTIAN YELICH: I think it looks different sometimes. All it does is it leads to more questions in Spring Training stuff. You lose some guys -- obviously they're great players, the guys who walked out the door, they're some of the best players in baseball still -- Cy Young winners, relievers of the year. Willy was a really great player for us.

So really what it does is just like in Spring Training everybody kind of doubts you again because you lose some big pieces, which is understandable, but this group just ends up finding its identity throughout the year and coming together as a team and finding our formula to win and how we do it as a team.

That's really what it's been year after year. It looks a little different year after year. The group's a little different, but you end up coming together as a team and finding out how we're going to win, how we're going to do it, and I think we've done a really good job of it.

Q. For each of you, what has it been like this last week trying to stay as sharp as possible for the start of this knowing what was coming up, and how much concern is there about that rest-versus-rust type deal?

SAL FRELICK: I think, going back to last year, that was the first time we had a bye since I've been here. Then we had one again this year before we played San Diego. So I think we kind of figured out a good way of staying sharp, staying ready, knowing that it's still going to prepare us great for Game 1 whenever that might be.

Then on top of it, for guys who are banged up or might need to give the body a little bit of rest, they get that too. Just because we've had a blueprint for what a week like this looks like, we're confident in knowing what works.

Q. Sal, given what you went through from an injury standpoint, how much more satisfying is this? And the fight back, was this kind of the hope that, as you fought back from that, that you might have an extended postseason run?

SAL FRELICK: Yeah, any time you're injured, you want to fight back, right? Whether we're out of playoff contention or we're the No. 1 seed, I was going to try to come back as quick as possible. You want to play. The competitor in everybody.

At the same time, you're aware of it. You know how incredible October baseball is and the memories that can be made. Yeah, you don't want to miss stuff like that. You want to be around. You want to contribute. Yeah, probably in the back of the head.

Q. Yeli, I saw you invited that World War II veteran to the game. Why was something like that important to you, and how did you find out he was having a hard time getting to Game 1?

CHRISTIAN YELICH: Just with the PA and the opportunity came about, and I thought it would be awesome. To give back to some amazing heroes that have been waiting a really long time for this moment, and to be able to come and enjoy the game and take in the atmosphere.

I thought it was a really cool opportunity, and I'm glad it was able to be made possible. We're looking forward to having him tonight.

Q. For both of you guys, you've seen Nick Martinez a pretty decent amount of times. Does having that familiarity with him, do you think that helps at all?

CHRISTIAN YELICH: Yeah, the more times you see a guy, the better, but I think he does a really good job of pitching. He knows how to pitch really well. He doesn't make a ton of mistakes. Knows how to move the ball around the zone and just make pitches.

It's going to be up to us to execute a game plan, and when you get opportunities, take advantage of them.

Q. Sal, you've won a Gold Glove, and this team defense is tremendous. How much does defense maybe get overlooked, and how vital is it to everything you guys do with the Brewers?

SAL FRELICK: I don't know if it necessarily gets overlooked, but I would just say the culture here -- I remember from the moment I got drafted, I understood the importance of, if you can't defend, you're not going to play on this team. It's just important. That's kind of what we take pride in first.

We want our pitchers to be able to throw strikes and know they don't have to strike everybody out because they've got eight guys behind them that will make a play for them. I think that's kind of what drives our team. That's just kind of known, part of the culture.

Q. You guys are both big fan favorites. Christian, when we saw you at the Little League Classic, you were signing for a bunch of fans. Sal, when we saw you at the NLCS, you were doing the same thing. What does it mean to you to be now playing in the World Series with so many fans cheering you on because of the connections you've made with them?

CHRISTIAN YELICH: Yeah, it's been great. I think people coming up to you saying they've been waiting their whole life for this and for this series and for the team to be back at this point, it's pretty cool.

We just really appreciate all the support throughout the year. They're a big impact on these games, how loud they've been. The atmosphere they've created, it's definitely a difference maker. It's cool to be able to provide memories for people to be able to share with their family, their kids, their grandparents, or just friends that have been Brewers fans over the years for decades and getting to kind of experience this together.

It's been a really cool part of this run that we don't take lightly. We know we represent a city and a state, and we're proud to do it. Looking forward to creating more memories for people.

SAL FRELICK: It's fun. I know you guys noticed that Yeli was signing for kids and whatnot. It's so fun when a city is behind you like Milwaukee is and how aware of it we are, just walking down the street, seeing Brewers flags on houses and people pulling over in their cars when the bus is coming home from the airport and getting out to wave. It's something I've never experienced before. All the players are super aware of it.

Even watching the reaction videos of the final out and whatnot and seeing how much it means to them, it just doesn't get lost in our preparation and our motivation.

Q. Christian, you spent a lot of nights playing in this park. I'm going to guess the next two are about as cool as any you've ever spent. Can you think of a night when maybe this never felt farther away, and how much do you think that would help your appreciation of these next two?

CHRISTIAN YELICH: I think over the course of a baseball season, there's often a lot of times where it feels like it can be far away. There's also times where it feels like it's really close too. Having experienced a lot of baseball seasons and the highs and lows that come with it, it's what makes it special.

I think everyone appreciates how hard it is to get to this point and how long of a season and a journey it is to make it to the World Series and play in this series.

I don't have like a specific night where it felt far away, but there's definitely moments throughout the year, right, where you're just like things aren't going well. It's navigating those times. Like you have to do that over the course of a season.

I think you never lose faith that this can happen, and you realize you're part of a team that this is definitely a possibility, so you keep going.

It's going to be awesome tonight and tomorrow night. Just looking forward -- like I said, the atmosphere has been really good this postseason here, but I think tonight is going to be another level with the roof closed and just how long people have been waiting to come to this game. I think they're going to just like -- I think they're going to be going crazy. So it's going to be awesome.