MLB WORLD SERIES: RAYS VS BREWERS

October 24, 2026

Sal Frelick

Cooper Pratt

American Family Field

Milwaukee Brewers

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Brewers - 5, Rays - 4

Q. Sal, that at-bat against Seymour that you had, it was all fastballs in that at-bat. You were able to foul off a couple of heaters inside before you had the big swing. Just having seen the velo throughout the at-bat, having fouled off the stuff inside, did you feel like you were getting to a spot where if something leaked back over the plate, if velo leaked back over the plate, you'd be able to turn on it?

SAL FRELICK: He's pretty much a sinker guy. Was fouling them off. Missed a few good ones. And then late in the at-bat, he started throwing four seams and kind of caught me by surprise. Was able to spoil a few of those and was just really hoping, because I had seen the sinker earlier, that he would maybe leave one over the plate, and yeah, he did.

Q. Sal, you've been a part of several postseason runs with the Brewers at this point. To hit a game-tying homer in a game that you guys were trailing early on, what's the feeling like rounding the bases at that moment with the whole stadium and the crowd just cheering you on?

SAL FRELICK: Yeah, it's great, sort of this blackout feeling. Then is kind of ends, right? Like still in the game. I hit a home run in the postseason before where I thought maybe that was going to win us the game and it ended up not. So kind of understanding that it's really important to lock back in. I think it was right at the sixth inning.

So three innings left of baseball, and we were tied, right? We weren't winning or anything.

Q. Sal, just curious, growing up in Boston, what were some of those moments, Red Sox playoff moments that really stuck with you that you enjoyed the most?

SAL FRELICK: Yeah, just them winning World Series. They didn't win one for a while or until '04. I was 4 years old, but I actually had the VHS tape of that. Yeah, it was just a winning culture there.

Grew up with a great fan base who's familiar with kind of the harshness of it too, though, and it just kind of puts into perspective the fans we have here and the team we have here and how the city kind of feels on fire. It just doesn't go unnoticed. It motivates us. We're so happy to be here and to go out and play in front of these guys.

Q. Did you think about the fact that David Ortiz got to watch that too?

SAL FRELICK: Yeah, it was great. I met him in L.A., and then being on the panel with him, and even Jeter and A-Rod, it's cool. That stuff's cool.

Q. Sal, he was challenging you with a few fastballs in a row there. Were you kind of hot on that last one, to some degree?

SAL FRELICK: Yeah, I was just fouling a ton off. Didn't look too comfortable, I think, on many of them. It looked a lot like spoil swings. Yeah, I just kind of -- didn't sell for it, but I just thought, if he executes a good slider here, I'll try to fight it off. I'm an 8 hole hitter, I'm a lefty, and you don't assume a guy like that is coming at you.

I know Ian pretty well from back home. He's another Boston kid. I faced him before. So I kind of figured that.

Q. You had faced him earlier this year in the second series in the season. Did you ever face him in high school or in college?

SAL FRELICK: Yeah, I faced him in college. He was at Virginia Tech when I was at BC. A lot of at-bats in the off-season a few times. First time was earlier this year. I think maybe I got hit by a pitch or something, but yeah.

Q. Pratt, baseball can be a redemptive game, can't it? Didn't start great for you in the field. Even at that at-bat you had a funky swing in there, but then all of a sudden you get a hit, and it's all forgotten, isn't it?

COOPER PRATT: I probably won't forget. I need to be better defensively, but it's always awesome when you have an opportunity to kind of redeem yourself and make up for it.

Yeah, probably wasn't the best swing, but it did the job and gave us the opportunity to score a run. I'm not going to complain.

Q. I was talking about the swing earlier in the at-bat.

COOPER PRATT: That one? We'll forget about that one.

(Laughter.)

Q. You guys have both been asked so many times all year how do you keep coming back? What's the favorite answer that you've come up with so we can keep repeating it over and over again? Do you think Murphy has something to do with that, with the belief that he kind of instills with you guys?

SAL FRELICK: It seems like we've had a lot of experience with it in the postseason so far. It feels like kind of down early almost every game so far. I'm not sure what the actual numbers are on that.

Our offense is built to kind of chip away and wear on pitchers, which I think can be good when you're trying to come back. At the same time, if we're up, it's the same exact approach. I think just having an offense built like that is really good for when you're down.

Again, today we go down four. We know how good that guy is over there. Let's just wear on him, see if we can get him out of the game, get to their bullpen and really break the thing open.

Q. Sal, you said the other day before the series you went to mass and your priest was kind of getting folks hyped before the series. It's Sunday tomorrow. What do you think mass is going to be like?

SAL FRELICK: Yeah, hell, no. We've got an early flight, so I've got to check the mass times. I hope they all watched tonight and can bring them some joy, along with the rest of the city. It's great for the fans that are here.

We were in the locker room watching all the reaction videos. Other than the deer district, they're just at home watching. It's cool. It's really cool for us and a big motivator to keep playing.

Q. Sal, what drives you to be the ultimate competitor that everybody seems to label you as? Even your college coach mentioned it, Murph mentions it, you've mentioned it. Where does that come from?

SAL FRELICK: I don't know, I just grew up playing a ton of different sports. I wasn't always the most gifted athlete. Murph will tell you firsthand that it's never pretty watching me take a swing or run or field or whatever it might be.

I just always felt like that was where I was able to get my edge was just kind of turn everything into a competition. Put myself in the box and iso me and the pitcher. Or on defense, just iso me and the ball. How can I beat it?

I just feel like that's how I've always played. I know Murph always tells me I can't look flashy, I can't look cool. That's not me. He doesn't want that. Not that I do either, but I'm glad that he allows me to play that way.

Q. Sal, just the offense as a whole throughout this postseason run, no matter what pitcher you've faced, you've been able to kind of keep that same mentality of seeing a lot of pitches, and as Murph just said a moment ago, dragging them. How proud are you you guys have been able to do that no matter the moment, no matter the pitcher you faced?

SAL FRELICK: It's awesome. It's next guy up. We don't care. Just to highlight this guy real quick, going with your question, has a little mistake early in the game, doesn't slam a glove, doesn't hang his head, nothing. Comes off the field and later in the game has a big at-bat and maybe swings at a ball or two, locks it back in.

This is a rookie, like people forget. This is our shortstop. This is a rookie, and we trust him. I just hope that if there's people, young kids watching, that was just really cool for me to see. Coop has grown up a lot -- I don't know if you would have done that maybe your first game, but it's cool to see.

I just hope everybody understands how hard that is, especially in the moment. All you want to do is throw something or get mad, but you've got four at-bats. I was just proud of that. It's an example of it doesn't matter who it is.

Q. Sal, you came close to a second home run in the seventh. I was curious if you thought that was going off the bat. And, Cooper, standing on second, what that play looked like from your perspective.

SAL FRELICK: Did you think it was gone?

COOPER PRATT: I thought it had a chance or at least off the wall.

SAL FRELICK: I've never hit a homer that I thought was gone, so, no, I didn't.

(Laughter.)

COOPER PRATT: It looked good off the bat.

Q. Cooper, when Murph in his unique way talks about under-the-radar guys as sort of orange Life Savers, do you listen to that and think he's referring to you?

SAL FRELICK: Someone mentioned that yesterday. I didn't hear him say it, but I would think I'm in that orange Life Saver category. Do you? Maybe you're a red.

COOPER PRATT: I've heard everything. I could make a play. Eh, the guy at second base could make that better. I'll do something wrong, like, What the heck was that? My bad. He'll make sure to let you know and humble you, but it's all good.

Q. Cooper, we've watched Robin Yount kind of bop around here like he's on a cloud the last two days. Have you gotten to know him much? Have you gotten to talk about shortstop at all with Robin?

COOPER PRATT: I talked to him for the first time yesterday in the hallway when I was looking for my family. He was just talking about all good things. He enjoyed watching me play. I was kind of like bamboozled because he came up and I kind of wasn't expecting it. I was just looking for my parents, and I'm face to face with him, and I'm like, oh, shoot, I should probably listen.

No, he was kind of like the first captain. He's a huge influence on the people here in Milwaukee and for the Milwaukee Brewers. To see him here and Braun and all those guys supporting, it's pretty cool.

Q. Question for both of you. After knocking out their ace early, how much does it help the hitters in a long series to be able to see that many relievers?

SAL FRELICK: Yeah, great, right? You've got an absolute stud on the mound, we know that. So the game plan is kind of how quickly can you knock him out? You're not really sure if you're going to score any runs at all. That's the game plan, get his pitch count up. He's going to throw a lot of strikes, so just kind of battle and hopefully get him out early.

Q. Cooper, like you obviously came up during the season. What did you learn from the guy to your left there, about Sal, about the example he sets for the team, the standard?

COOPER PRATT: I remember when I got benched for not running on a ball, and I sat there next to this guy, and he's like, hey, man, I've been there, I've done that. I've been pulled a couple times. Just don't let it happen again. There's standards here. There's a way that we play, and it's okay. You're going to be all right.

To have guys like Sal and Yelich and Turang to kind of like guide you and let you know is pretty unique. Like I don't think there's one guy in the clubhouse that you couldn't talk to. It's a good group. It's contagious for sure. It's fun to be a part of, especially when you can go to anyone in the clubhouse and ask them questions. Hey, what are you thinking here? Hey, what have you got on this?

They'll tell you when you mess up too, like hey, you probably should have done this or this. It's not in a way to tear you down. It's more like, hey, let's go. You got this. It's helped me out a lot, especially when I came up, struggled kind of, and trying to figure out the ropes.

So guys like that, Sal, Turang, Yelich, have been huge for me.

Q. Sal, you had an injury concern there with the shoulder. How much were you worried about that knowing what a special season it is for the Brewers, and how much have you had to manage that since it happened?

SAL FRELICK: Yeah, not too bad. It's part of the game. I've had a ton of injuries before. Yeah, you manage it. Whether we were in first place going into the playoffs with a big chance or dead last and going home first day of September, I was going to rehab the same and try to get back as quick as I could -- smartly, though.

Yeah, did a great job, I think. The trainers in there are just unbelievable getting me back in a quick amount of time, and it's felt good. No, no real issues at all. Not really lingering like it was during the year. It's been good.

Q. Cooper, you drove in the go-ahead run. What does that say about finding ways to deliver in the biggest moments?

COOPER PRATT: You kind of have to have the opportunity. They changed the pitchers, and Vogey kind of pulled me aside, like, hey, you were built for this type stuff, kind of hyping me up. My heart was racing, I'm not going to lie. You saw me chase the 1-1 pitch in the other batter's box. You try to relax and calm down and breathe and focus. Then good things happen.

It was awesome, especially I think earlier I said being able to redeem myself for the mess-up in the first. It's nine innings for a reason. You get four at-bats. You're going to go back out for defense, and it's important to remember that, pitch by pitch.

Q. Sal, how cool is it to know that you're the reason that Bernie Brewer got to go down the slide for the first time in World Series history?

SAL FRELICK: No way. Is that true?

Q. Yes, it is.

SAL FRELICK: Wow, that's really cool. I only made him go down four times this whole year. No, that's cool. Cool stat there. Yeah, that's cool.