MLB WORLD SERIES: RAYS VS BREWERS

October 24, 2026

Freddy Peralta

American Family Field

Tampa Bay Rays

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. Freddy, when you came over, you told us a couple different times that you thought this team was good enough to get to the World Series and everybody should kind of focus on that, which you obviously have. Did you also think you'd be facing your former Brewers team in this situation, or can you kind of describe what that's going to be like?

FREDDY PERALTA: As we know, I think they are here like us in the World Series because they play great baseball during the whole regular season and also during the playoffs. I think that we both deserve to be here.

Obviously they make it before us, and I was really happy for them because I know how much effort they have put through the years to be part of this.

I'm very grateful to be here, like I saw you guys before when I got here to the team. It's an unbelievable situation and position for me to be here, and I'm very grateful to be here.

Q. Is it weird, like what are the odds?

FREDDY PERALTA: It is a little weird. I've been trying to focus on what I have to focus because even when I came out yesterday for practice, all the people, all the fans here showing me some love, screaming my name. Also, when I went to the bullpen last night, they were telling me, We still love you.

It's amazing. I just have to be professional and keep my -- keep everything in the right direction and knowing my goal.

Q. What do you think it will be like to face these guys? I'd imagine there's not a lot of secrets on either side when you're facing them.

FREDDY PERALTA: I think it's going to be a lot of competition because I think that they know me really well. I know some of them too. It doesn't mean that they're going to have the benefit of that, but I think it's going to be a really good competition, as you see last night.

It was a very good game, and you could tell how they play and how we play the game, which tells us like we both are here for a reason.

Q. Did you hear the crowd for you during the introductions last night?

FREDDY PERALTA: Yes, it was unbelievable.

Q. Take me back to the trade with Matt, or the call with Matt when he told you you were traded. When you saw his name come up on your phone, did you have an idea that's what the call was going to be about? How long did it take to move on to another team and move past being with the Brewers?

FREDDY PERALTA: I remember I was at home, and I was expecting it already because some people -- you know, people are always going to share parts and all that. People were telling me, hey, your name is everywhere, like you're probably going to be traded.

Because I wanted to have time with the family. I wasn't paying a lot of attention to the phone in the off-season and all that. But I knew something was going on.

Then when Arnold called me, you know, a lot of respect as always. We share some history. I was very grateful, and I tell him, with the organization because everything that you know, like everything that we have done together through the years.

Then they called me, and it was something like -- it was feeling like the same people because they trade me when I was a kid from the Mariners to the Brewers. The same people trade me back from the Brewers to the Mets. Then the same people trade me from the Mets to Tampa.

It's like a circle with -- the good thing about all this was the communication we had. It was great, and it make everything easier for me and for them.

Q. Because of the fans and your relationship with the fans here, are you glad that you're pitching in Tampa instead of here? Would it have been difficult emotionally?

FREDDY PERALTA: I don't know because, being honest, I would love to pitch here too. I believe that the moment probably will tell me the difference, like pitching on this mound or in Tampa. But I don't even know how to answer that question.

I know how special it is to pitch on this mound here in Milwaukee. I would like to pitch here during the postseason. Probably we're coming back here because of the way that we're playing. But I'm excited to pitch here, yeah.

Q. When you look back on those four months with the Mets, what do you think happened? What do you think was the difference, why it didn't work out for you there?

FREDDY PERALTA: I was -- sometimes I ask the same question myself. I don't try to make excuses and all that.

The good thing, I was feeling really good physically. I was trying to give the best of myself as always, and I prepared how I should be preparing. But I don't know, for some reason things weren't going my way. A lot of little things in the game that happens that makes everything -- you know, sometimes I feel like I pitch a really good game, and for some reason when you see the score, it was crazy, like four runs, five runs in just one inning like this. Maybe probably one play that was supposed to be made and probably we couldn't make it, and then everything look really bad after that.

I don't know, I think that it was a lot of things going on for me and for the team too because we weren't playing well in general, and we were trying to make adjustments. We knew, we understood, and we spoke with each other about it. I remember that we were doing the right thing because we were preparing in the right way, but we couldn't do what we were supposed to do.

Q. I know it didn't go the way you wanted it to, but you have pitched against the Brewers once since you left the Brewers. Can that help at all just that you've gone through the emotions of facing your former team beforehand, this won't be a first-time thing when it comes a couple days from now?

FREDDY PERALTA: Yes, but I want to make something clear. When I'm on the mound, I see everything like a competition. I know that they want to make damage against me, they want to score some runs; and I am trying to limit the damage, and I'm trying to get some outs. That's the way that I see it.

I know that I have a lot of friends, even on other teams before. I remember when I got traded here, I had to face the Mets. It was right there, like probably like two weeks later after I got traded, and it was the same.

I know that sometimes you have people that you love on the other side, but you have to do what you have to do. Then everything takes care of itself.

Q. In regards to your decision at the beginning of the year to drop out of the Dominican national team and eventually not be part of that team as a whole and not play for the national team?

FREDDY PERALTA: It was the right decision in the moment, but it was a difficult one. At the end of the day, it was a good decision because I had to get ready physically for this entire season. It's a long year. Right now you start in February and it's October, so we're still playing now at this point.

It was a difficult decision for me. It was a difficult decision for my family. But at the end of the day, it was the right one.

Yeah, there were some ups and downs with the Mets, but eventually being here, it does confirm my thought that was the right decision because ultimately it played out to help me have a good, successful comeback with the Rays.

Q. Your first couple starts with the Rays -- one in Denver, one in Sacramento -- went okay. You came home, pitched against Baltimore, I think went 4 2/3, but the next one in Detroit was the one where it looked like it started to roll for you. You even had an ABS challenge late in the game that you did from the mound that went your way and helped finish off that start. From there your numbers have been off the charts. Is that the turning point? Is that the point where you started to get real confident again?

FREDDY PERALTA: No, I think it was the one before that one against the Orioles. That was the one. That day I was feeling really comfortable in the little things, the little adjustments that I made, and that was a game that I was feeling really good.

Q. Just being back here in Milwaukee, how were you expecting to be received by the fans now being at this stage against the Brewers?

FREDDY PERALTA: I was surprised to see it, but obviously very grateful. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know what to expect coming into this. I know very well that the Milwaukee fan base is a great one, that they support their players every single step of the way through, but things are different now. I'm on a different team, and at the end of the day, you're competing in the World Series.

The ovation and how I was received yesterday was super impressive to me. Even some of my teammates here in Tampa Bay patted me on the back and said, hey, that was a great moment for you.

I'm extremely grateful that at the end of the day, the way the fans feel about me gives me the clarification that I did something right in Milwaukee when I was here.

Q. What about Miguel Rojas being here as the MLB correspondent? Did he give you any tips or pointers ahead of the World Series and ahead of being here on this stage?

FREDDY PERALTA: We talked a little bit, and we talked about the troubles that maybe I had in New York, but saying it was just something normal. Even Miguel Rojas has gone through the troubles that naturally unfold as an MLB player, but you just have to go through it. At the end of the day, you're on this stage for a reason. You have to trust your abilities and move forward with it.

Q. What is it at Tropicana Field specifically that makes you so comfortable? Is it the mound? Is it the visual when you're standing at home plate? You're standing on the mound looking to home plate. Is it the actual mound itself? Is it the dimensions? What makes you so comfortable there?

FREDDY PERALTA: It's very similar to here for me. Like for some reason, I don't know if it's because of like the view, because of the roof, I don't know. But it's very similar here. I feel very comfortable pitching there.

I remember my first game in Tropicana Field was in 2023, if I'm not wrong, and that day I remember that I spoke with Willy, and I told him that I felt comfortable on the mound. When I got back on the mound this year, I feel the same way. Very comfortable.

For some reason, they have a nice view, which it matters for me. I feel really comfortable. The way that the dirt is too, like I feel comfortable with my back leg. It's just good for me, yeah.

Q. What do you think of the defense that plays behind you, especially the outfield defense that the Rays have?

FREDDY PERALTA: That's a huge part, man. Sometimes I face hitters that I understand in the moment that I have to -- okay, I tell myself, just whatever I'm going to throw, just put it in the sun. Just looking for the hitter to hit the ball because I know and trust all the guys I have behind me, and it's been working pretty well. I just trust them.

Q. You had mentioned earlier that you tried to make adjustments with the Mets, and you weren't successful unfortunately. What kinds of adjustments were they specifically? And are they the same ones the Rays did, or are they different?

FREDDY PERALTA: A little different. It was different, yeah.

Q. And also, you mentioned that over the winter you were kind of expecting to get traded. You didn't know where or when, but you knew it was going to happen. In July did you expect that? Did you feel like your performance wasn't maybe going to have teams as interested?

FREDDY PERALTA: No, I knew I was going to be traded also in July because I've been in the business for a long time now and I understand how it works. I knew it was the best for the Mets organization to trade me and get something for me.

Q. And you were feeling pretty good that you could still help another team despite what happened with the Mets?

FREDDY PERALTA: Yeah, I was feeling bad because I couldn't do anything for them. They had a lot of big expectations for me, the fans too in New York, they were waiting for something great from me, a good performance. I wasn't able to perform well over there.

I was disappointed because I knew what I can do, but I couldn't. But then I was a little -- feeling a little better when I got traded because they were able to get some good players for me, and that way at least they got something back. And I was able to go to a new team that probably need me for --

Q. For the World Series?

FREDDY PERALTA: It was crazy. For the World Series, yeah.