![\"Freddy](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2297158615.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay Rays SP Freddy Peralta opened up on how things have changed for the better for him since being traded by the New York Mets. <\/p>\n
The 2026 season was a roller coaster for Freddy Peralta<\/a>. After being traded to the New York Mets<\/a> during the offseason, he hoped to take over as their ace and lead them to the playoffs, but things went sideways almost right away, and he\u2019d again be traded midseason, this time to the Tampa Bay Rays<\/a>.<\/p>\n Something changed once he got to Tampa, though. Peralta started to look like the pitcher he had been with the Milwaukee Brewers<\/a>, and he would even be named the AL Pitcher of the Month for September with a 0.96 ERA in 28 innings.<\/p>\n Now, Peralta is set to start Game 2 of the ALDS against the New York Yankees<\/a>. Finding himself in that situation gave him the opportunity to reflect on what changed since leaving the Mets.<\/p>\n \u201cI was there and I was happy over there,\u201d Freddy Peralta said<\/a>. \u201cObviously, I wasn\u2019t in the spot that I wanted to be when I talk about how my numbers were. This is baseball. Everything changed when I got traded. I said it before that I\u2019ve been treated here as a king, and I feel really good about it. They\u2019re working me really well here. For me and for my family this is a great opportunity to be the pitcher for the second game of the ALDS.\u201d<\/p>\n Freddy Peralta Has Improved Significantly Since Leaving the New York Mets<\/p>\n The trade for Freddy Peralta made a lot of sense at the time for the Mets. He was an All-Star in 2025 and finished fifth in Cy Young voting. Going into his age 30 season while coming off a 2.70 ERA, he looked like a fix at the top of the rotation.<\/p>\n Then, he got on the mound. In 22 starts, Peralta threw 113.2 innings. He had a 4.99 ERA and a 1.478 WHIP in that time. He made a complete turnaround with the Rays, though, posting a 3.25 ERA and a 1.012 WHIP in 10 starts. It\u2019s an incredible shift, and now he has a chance to win in the playoffs because of it.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel amazing on the mound, and in general here,\u201d Peralta said<\/a>. \u201cBut I\u2019m looking forward to finding a way to give the opportunity to the team to get the win. No matter how. Don\u2019t matter what I have to do or how I have to do it. Just to find a way to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n Peralta credits a change in energy going from the Mets to the Rays. That, along with the defense behind him, has helped create this opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cSince I got here I felt something I was looking for, which is the energy, the way that the boys play the game, how they \u2014 when they get into \u2014 like, when I talk about the defense, they are amazing, the way they come into the field, the way they take their bats, too, when I talk about the offense. It\u2019s amazing, and I just \u2014 we just need to keep it that way. Simple,\u201d Peralta said.<\/p>\n The Mets are Looking for Answers in the Rotation<\/p>\n The 2026 season ended up being a massive disappointment for the Mets. At 74-88, they finished last in the NL East. The pitching was a major reason for that.<\/p>\n For the regular season, the Mets had a 4.15 ERA. That was 17th in MLB<\/a>. They were also 14th in WHIP with a 1.29 and 12th in batting average allowed at .239 for the season. Nolan McLean remains their top starter, having thrown 31 gams to a 3.16 ERA.<\/p>\n However, behind McLean, the Mets battled injury issues. Only five starters had double-digit starts for the year. That included Freddy Peralta. Several pitchers bounced between the bullpen and the rotation, but there was a complete lack of consistency behind McLean. Now, the Mets are looking for a way to fix that.<\/p>\n Free agent Tarik Skubal<\/a> is the major prize this offseason, and there have been plenty of rumors<\/a> connecting him to the Mets. Of course, they will have to get him away from the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> to land Skubal.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDan Morrison<\/a> After graduating from UMass in 2019, Dan Morrison quickly began a career in sports journalism and digital media. That has seen him work both as a contributing writer at several publications, as well as spending time on the National News Desk at On3. During that time, he has spent the majority of his time covering football, both at the college and NFL levels. Currently residing in Central Florida, his focus with Heavy is on the NFL. More about Dan Morrison<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Tampa Bay Rays SP Freddy Peralta opened up on how things have changed for the better for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":821435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203],"class_list":["post-821434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-mets","tag-baseball","tag-mets","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-mets","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkmets"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117383242011945449","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/821435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}