{"id":507594,"date":"2026-10-25T15:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T15:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/507594\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T15:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T15:56:15","slug":"freddy-peralta-has-gone-from-afterthought-to-world-series-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/507594\/","title":{"rendered":"Freddy Peralta has gone from afterthought to World Series force"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In retrospect, conventional wisdom might not be all that wise. Just check out this postseason.<\/p>\n

The Atlanta Braves should have started Chris Sale<\/a> in Game 2 of the division series against the Dodgers. They didn\u2019t. They won.<\/p>\n

The Braves then had an edge with Sale starting Game 3. They didn\u2019t. They lost that game, and they were eliminated in the next game.<\/p>\n

The Milwaukee Brewers should have considered trading rookie pitcher Logan Henderson<\/a> in a package for Tarik Skubal<\/a>, a win-now proposition for a team that has dominated the regular season but had not appeared in the World Series in 44 years. They didn\u2019t. Skubal and the Dodgers missed the World Series, and Henderson started Game 2 for the Brewers on Saturday, helping them move within two victories from their first championship.<\/p>\n

That brings us to Freddy Peralta<\/a>, who starts Game 3 for the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday. Peralta was one of the top pitchers in the majors for the Brewers last year, and he has been one of the top pitchers in the majors since the Rays acquired him from the New York Mets three months ago, but in between he performed so poorly for the Mets that he cannot really explain why.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I ask the same question myself,\u201d Peralta said.<\/p>\n

So poorly that, when the league\u2019s website ranked the most impactful trades<\/a> at the deadline, the Peralta deal did not make the top 10, behind trades for six other starting pitchers: Skubal, Casey Mize and Robbie Ray to the San Diego Padres, Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes to the Chicago Cubs, and Jose Soriano to the Toronto Blue Jays.<\/p>\n

Conventional wisdom? No big deal.<\/p>\n

For the Mets, Peralta put up a 4.99 ERA and a negative WAR. For the Rays, he put up an 0.79 ERA in his last six starts of the regular season and a 1.07 ERA so far in the postseason, honored as American League Championship Series MVP.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like he\u2019s kind of come back to being Freddy Peralta with us,\u201d Rays manager Kevin Cash said.<\/p>\n

Peralta went 17-6 with a 2.70 earned-run average for Milwaukee last year, leading the National League in victories and posting 5.5 WAR<\/a>, third behind Cristopher Sanchez<\/a> of the Philadelphia Phillies and Cy Young winner Paul Skenes<\/a> of the Pittsburgh Pirates.<\/p>\n

If you wonder why the Brewers would trade Peralta, well, you don\u2019t know the Brewers.<\/p>\n

\"Tampa <\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Freddy Peralta throws against the Cleveland Guardians in Game 6 of the ALCS on Oct. 19.<\/p>\n

(Phelan M. Ebenhack \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Peralta was approaching free agency, and the Brewers routinely trade All-Star pitchers like that for prospects: Corbin Burnes, Josh Hader, Devin Williams.<\/p>\n

This is how the Brewers restock: The Burnes trade brought two pieces of this World Series team, pitcher DL Hall and infielder Joey Ortiz. The Hader trade brought Game 3 starter Robert Gasser and journeyman outfielder Estuery Ruiz, and within a subsequent three-team trade, the Brewers swiped All-Star catcher William Contreras for Ruiz.<\/p>\n

The Mets wanted Peralta for what they considered an inevitable playoff run, with the largest Opening Day payroll of any major league team<\/a>, the Dodgers included. The Mets finished in last place, and Peralta\u2019s ERA exceeded 6.00 in each of the two months preceding the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was feeling bad,\u201d Peralta said, \u201cbecause I couldn\u2019t do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The adjustments the Mets asked him to make, he said, were \u201ca little different\u201d than the ones that reversed the course of his season with the Rays.<\/p>\n

The Rays let him pitch from the stretch, as he had in Milwaukee. They modified his delivery, including having him start it from the third-base side of the pitching rubber. His fastball got faster: 94 mph with the Mets, hitting 97 mph in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see that he\u2019s in his element, man,\u201d Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. \u201cThat\u2019s Fastball Freddy.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Milwaukee, it\u2019s all love for Peralta. The fans even cheered his bullpen session there before Game 1.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll start Game 3 in Tampa Bay and, after that, who knows, but he would be lined up to start a potential Game 7 in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know how special it is to pitch on this mound here in Milwaukee,\u201d Peralta said. \u201cI would like to pitch here during the postseason.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tampa <\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Freddy Peralta celebrates during Game 2 of the ALCS against the Cleveland Guardians on Oct. 13.<\/p>\n

(David J. Phillip \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

He would have liked to pitch in New York during the postseason too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had a lot of big expectations for me, the fans too, in New York,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were waiting for something great from me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conventional wisdom can boomerang. The conventional wisdom on Peralta\u2019s free agency in the spring: he should make more in free agency than any pitcher besides Skubal; in the summer: this is a bad year to take into free agency; in the fall: he should make more in free agency than any pitcher besides Skubal.<\/p>\n

But, given what happened in New York, what were the realistic expectations in Tampa Bay?<\/p>\n

\u201cI was able to go to a new team that probably needed me for \u2026\u201d Peralta said, his voice trailing off.<\/p>\n

The World Series?<\/p>\n

Peralta beamed.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrazy,\u201d he said. \u201cFor the World Series, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In retrospect, conventional wisdom might not be all that wise. Just check out this postseason. The Atlanta Braves…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2136,195939,426,10665,70127,28086,423,48,52,51,47,50,49,44639,54,3674,195936,116191,18471,195938,195937],"class_list":["post-507594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-brewer","tag-conventional-wisdom","tag-dodgers","tag-era","tag-freddy-peralta","tag-free-agency","tag-game","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-mets","tag-milwaukee-brewers","tag-new-york-mets","tag-peralta","tag-rays","tag-tarik-skubal","tag-top-pitcher","tag-world-series-force"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}