Who Are the Tampa Bay Rays? Freddy Peralta Brings Some Talented New Friends to Face the Brewers in the World Series

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When the Milwaukee Brewers look over the scouting report of the Tampa Bay Rays before the World Series begins Friday, they will see a mirror image of themself.

Both teams had the best record in their respective league.

Both teams feature an offense that likes to pressure the other team’s defense.

Both teams have an excellent No. 1 starting pitcher with solid options after.

Both teams have tremendous bullpens.

Both teams play defense at a high level.

The two carbon copies, considered among the most intelligent front offices in MLB, should be in store to put together an entertaining World Series, where—you know what is coming next—both teams are seeking their first championship.

The Rays, who came into existence in 1998, are in their third World Series, having lost in 2008 to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games and in 2020 to the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games. The Brewers, as we all know, are in just their second World Series since joining MLB as the Seattle Pilots in 1969. Their only other trip came in 1982, when the Crew lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.

On Monday, the Rays punched their ticket by beating the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 to take the AL Championship Series in six games. That was four days following the Brewers’ four-game sweep of the two-time reigning World Series champion Dodgers.

The franchises are tied together in several ways.

Matt Arnold, currently the Crew’s president of baseball operations, came to the Brewers under David Stearns’ new regime after the 2015 season from the Rays, where he was part of a front office with Erik Neander, Tampa Bay’s current POBO. Both worked under Andrew Friedman, who led the Rays’ front office until leaving for the Dodgers in October 2014. Arnold took over the Brewers’ operation after the 2022 season, while Neander was elevated to the top job with the Rays in September 2021.

No wonder the two teams have so many similarities. Develop pitching, make shrewd trades, look for the advantages on the edges and wherever else they can find them.

There are player connections, too. Most prominently, right-handed starter Freddy Peralta was developed into a top-level pitcher by the Brewers after being acquired from the Seattle Mariners. The Brewers spun Peralta off before this season to the New York Mets in exchange for infielder-center fielder Jett Williams and right-handed starter Brandon Sproat. But Peralta struggled with the Mets to the tune of a 4.99 ERA in 22 starts. The Mets, in the midst of a bad season, shipped Peralta to the Rays at the trade deadline. All the Rays did was fix what ailed Peralta, who then put up a 3.25 ERA in 10 regular season starts. This postseason, he has allowed just two runs over 16⅔ innings. He won twice in the ALCS, including Monday’s clincher, to be named series MVP. Peralta could pitch Saturday's Game 2 of the World Series at American Family Field or Game 3 back at Tropicana Field.

There is another former Brewer who plays a prominent role for the Rays. That is right-hander Drew Rasmussen. Remember him? He was part of the return the Rays received when the Brewers acquired shortstop Willy Adames during the 2021 season.

The Brewers have a former Ray in first baseman Jake Bauers, the NLCS MVP. Bauers, drafted by the San Diego Padres in 2013, was shipped to the Rays in a massive three-time trade in December 2014 headlined by Trea Turner eventually going to the Washington Nationals.

As far as this year’s Rays team, there is one noteworthy difference between them and the Brewers. It is the ability to hit home runs. It isn’t a pronounced difference as the Rays hit 169 in the regular season, ranking 22nd, to the Brewers’ 154, which tied for next-to-last with the Los Angeles Angels.

The difference comes in the form of superstar third baseman Junior Caminero, who tied for the fourth-most homers in MLB this season with 42 (also: Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros). First baseman Jonathan Aranda and designated hitter Yandy Diaz each had 22. The Brewers also had three players with 20 homers in Bauers (26), Jackson Chourio (25) and Brice Turang (21).

While neither team truly relies on the homer, they use speed and contact to manufacture offense. The Rays had a team slash line of .258/.326/.402 for the eighth-best OPS of .728 and the 12th-most runs, while the Brewers had a .258/.341/.403 slash line and the No. 3 OPS of .744 and the second-most runs. Diaz (.293/.359/.446) and Aranda (.274/.358/.434) hold down the top of the batting order while Caminero (.276/.360/.524) anchors the middle. The rest of the Rays’ hitters juggle lineup positions.

The biggest wild card of the Rays’ offense is Chandler Simpson. The left fielder is probably the fastest player in MLB and has put together a .306/.333/.356 slash line with no homers. He had 118 bolts (times where his sprint speed was 30 feet per second) in 359 competitive runs and holds the fastest home-to-first average speed of 3.97 seconds, the only one under 4 seconds. The Brewers’ David Hamilton is tied for second in home-to-first speed at 4.04 seconds and has 66 bolts in 132 competitive runs.

Rasmussen has blossomed into an ace, going 16-5 with a 2.67 ERA, with a 26.8% strikeout rate to go along with a career-best 4.8% walk rate. The two other starters the Rays feature are right-handers Nick Martinez and Griffin Jax. Martinez is a proven veteran who went 15-6 with a 3.10 ERA and an excellent 3.6% walk rate and 15.1% strikeout rate. Jax, acquired from the Minnesota Twins at last year’s deadline, had been a reliever all his career until converting to a starter during the season. He had a 3.53 ERA with 7.6% walk rate and 25.3% strikeout rate.

The bullpen is led by All-Star right-handed closer Bryan Baker, who tied for the MLB lead with 41 saves and hasn’t blown one since May. He had saves in the first six Rays wins of this offseason and finished off Game 6 of the ALCS, a non-save situation in a 7-3 victory. He is as lockdown as they come this season. Other arms to know are right-hander Kevin Kelly (2.44 ERA, 3.9% BB rate, 22.6% K rate), left-hander Cam Booser (1.98 ERA, 3.9%, 29.6%) and right-hander Ian Seymour (3.88 ERA, 6.5%, 28.7%).

You might get confused by the names of two Rays. Those would be Taylor Walls and Tyler Wells. Walls is the standout shortstop who hasn’t hit much (.222/.309/.298), while Wells will be an arm you should see a few times in the series.

One final important showdown will be between the team mascots. While the Brewers have Bernie Brewer perched in his chalet out in left field, the Rays have DJ Kitty—not even a ray—who started as a viral scoreboard feature and now has a costumed cousin. There are two other Rays mascots. One is Raymond, who has been with the team since its inception. It looks more like a manatee-walrus combo than a manta ray. The other is Stinger, who acts as a guide to the touch tanks for the real rays at Tropicana Field.

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Steve Drumwright grew up in Wisconsin and was forced out of youth baseball when he failed to make enough contact to play the sport he loves. He did make one memorable pitching appearance, summoned from right field in a blowout. Steve went on to a successful journalism career, beginning as a part-time high school sportswriter in small-town Wisconsin to becoming the No. 2 person in the newsroom in San Francisco. Steve enjoys telling the stories of other people and how sports is a terrific vehicle for telling those stories. He now lives in Southern California. Follow him on Bluesky.