Rays Turn To Former Mets Starter Again To Save Their Season

The Tampa Bay Rays are reeling again, and they’ll turn once more to former New York Mets starter Freddy Peralta to try to save their season. 

This time it’s the World Series, and the Rays are down 2-0 to the surging Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers are the toast of the baseball world, and they come into Peralta’s Monday night start having won seven straight postseason games and nine of ten overall. 

Their small-market, small-ball approach is being lauded as baseball’s new winning formula, even as the owners prepare to lock out the players with the goal of finally getting a salary cap. 

None of that will matter to Peralta when he takes the mound against his old team. He’s now the reigning ALCS MVP, much to the Mets' chagrin, as they traded Peralta to the Rays at the deadline and he promptly turned his horrific season around with a brilliant September. 

The Rays will have to play better fundamental baseball to support Peralta, though. Tampa Bay was terrible on defense in the Rays’ 5-4 loss, as first baseman Jonathon Aranda committed an error and misplayed a foul pop up, left field Chandler Simpson dropped a fly ball. That’s the kind of defense Peralta was forced to adjust to with the Mets, and if it happens again the Rays could be making winter vacation plans.

But the Rays are a different team at home, and they’re hoping that edge will help them support Peralta. It did in his first start against the Cleveland Guardians with the Rays down 1-0 in the ALCS, as Peralta consistently threw 95 mph, and he also threw his fastest pitch of the season at 99.4 mph. 

The World Series is a different level of pressure, though, especially with Tampa Bay down 2-0. A third loss would likely signal the impending end of the Rays season against a Brewers juggernaut that simply keeps coming, even if some of the rallies are of the paper-cut variety. 

Peralta’s second half will be a success regardless, but watching him rescue the Rays again would be a black mark the Mets would certainly like to avoid. Tampa Bay fixed him with a simple adjustment that had him abandoning his windup, which was especially embarrassing for the Mets coaching staff. 

The Mets, meanwhile, will be looking forward to the GM meetings on Nov. 9, which are expected to generate a flurry of free agent activity. They’ll be looking for the next Peralta, provided they don’t ruin him again the way they did with “Fastball Freddy.”