Oct 20, 2026 2:00 PM
Updated Oct 20, 2026 4:43 PM

Two Championship Series MVPs prepare to battle the clubs that launched their careers in the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays.

Back in 2018, a young man named Freddy Peralta made his MLB debut with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Peralta was 22 years old at the time, and he would enjoy a lengthy eight-year stint with the Brewers.

Knowing the team wouldn't be able to pay him what he wanted, Milwaukee traded Peralta going into the 2026 season, but things did not go great for him with the New York Mets.

Peralta was traded during the middle of the season, and he ended up on a Tampa Bay Rays team that just won the American League Championship Series.

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Not only that, but Peralta was named the ALCS MVP as he got the win in the series-clinching Game 6 and made three overall appearances.

Talk about full circle: Jake Bauers, the NLCS MVP, made his MLB debut in 2018 for none other than the Rays.

That was the only year Bauers would play for Tampa Bay, but it's still crazy to think that these are the two Championship Series MVP's, and now they're set to do battle against the team they made their MLB debuts for.

Brewers must prepare to face Peralta

Peralta's lone start against the Brewers in his career came when he was with the Mets on Monday, July 20.

It was his second-to-last start with the Mets, and he fell to 5-9 on the year in a 5.1-inning outing that saw him throw 107 pitches.

Peralta allowed seven earned runs on eight hits, and it's clear the Mets left him in the fire as they needed depth and had little to no trust in their bullpen.

His return to American Family Field saw him strike out six batters. Cooper Pratt's first career big-league homer came off the former Brewers ace, and Andrew Vaughn went yard in this one as well.

Bauers takes on the team that gave him his break

Bauers was selected No. 208 overall back in 2013 by the San Diego Padres, the team Milwaukee beat in a four-game National League Division Series.

He was traded to the Rays ahead of the 2015 season and would eventually make his major-league debut on June 7, 2018.

On Dec. 13, 2018, the Rays traded him to the then Cleveland Indians, another full-circle moment as the Rays just took down the Cleveland Guardians in a stellar six-game ALCS.

The Brewers are the fifth team Bauer has played for in his big-league career, but he's in the midst of his best season ever, and it's not even close.

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