Seattle Mariners ON Tap

Sal Frelick is playing in the World Series for the Milwaukee Brewers. Some of his best friends in the world are people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and he has been showing up for them since high school. Here is how he describes them. "I really do think they're angels." Here is the whole thing. Frelick grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts. In high school he was already friends with a lot of the students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Not as a project. Just friends in the hallway. Then someone told him about Best Buddies, a nonprofit that pairs students with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. "I had just been friends with these kids in the hallways, so I was like, 'Sounds fun.'" He joined. He went to their events. He went to their prom. One of the friends he made back then is still one of his best friends today. Every offseason, back home near Boston, they go out to dinner. His hometown runs a Unified Basketball league, where athletes with and without disabilities play on the same team. Frelick shows up to the big end of season event and brings shoes and sweatshirts for the players. Then the Brewers made him a big leaguer, and he moved to Milwaukee. He said something felt off. "When I was out here, it was almost like something was missing from my life in that aspect." So he sent a message on Instagram to the local Best Buddies chapter and asked how he could help. He started going to their events. Their Friendship Walk drew more than 1,000 people. One of the chapter directors said this about him. "He has a huge heart and compassion for the community we serve." Then he found Inclusion Coffee Company in Hartland, Wisconsin, a shop where most of the staff are people with disabilities. The owner explained why she opened it. "My idea was to give our friends with disabilities a place to work after high school." Frelick came in one Saturday morning before a game. Anybody could come get a coffee and take a picture with him. The money went to Best Buddies and the staff. The owner asked fans for one thing. No autographs, please. Just come in, buy a coffee from the staff, and take a picture. Here is the honest part. This was not a huge foundation or a million dollar check. It was an hour on a Saturday, a lot of dinners, and a lot of showing up. But that is exactly the point, and he will tell you so himself. "If you're around people with special needs or they're in the same environment as you, go up and talk to them." Tonight he has a chance to win a World Series. Win or lose, he has already been showing up where it counts. For more stories like this, follow us on any platform @thesportsontap

He had one hit in the entire postseason. One. In 15 at bats, across eight games. He had been on the bench most of October because he could not hit, and everybody involved knew it. Tonight Tampa Bay was three outs from being swept out of the World Series, and they sent him up in the twelfth. Ben Williamson singled. Tampa won it 4 to 3. Their season is still alive. Milwaukee led that game 3 to 2 and leads the series three games to one. No team has ever come back from three games to none to win a World Series. Tampa is still trying. Game 5 is tomorrow in Tampa. Here is the guy they handed it to. He grew up in Chantilly, Virginia, and went to Freedom High School over in South Riding. He was conference and regional player of the year as a senior in 2019. Then he went to William and Mary, which is not where you go to get drafted. He was First Team All-CAA three straight years, the first player in the history of that school to do it. He was the defensive player of the year in the league in 2022. As a senior he hit .391 with 12 home runs and stole 14 bases and was the player of the year in the CAA. Seattle took him 57th overall in 2023 and signed him under slot for 600,000 dollars. The pattern showed up fast. He hit .315 at Everett, then got to Double-A and could not figure out the pitching, and the one thing nobody ever questioned was the glove. He debuted on April 15, 2025, and singled in his first plate appearance. Then here is the thing that has followed him ever since. He was Seattle's starting third baseman that summer, and he led every third baseman in the American League in defensive runs saved, and he was near the bottom of the entire league in OPS. Best hands at the position. Could not hit. So on July 30 the Mariners went and got Eugenio Suarez, and Ben Williamson got sent down to Triple-A. In February they traded him to Tampa. This year he hit .238 with 3 home runs. In the last week of the season he hit .091. Be straight about it. One single does not make him a hitter. He is a 25 year old defender who has never hit, the numbers are the numbers, and Tampa still needs to win three in a row against a team that won 10 to 1 two nights ago. But think about what that at bat actually was. A guy who was 1 for 15 in October. Twelfth inning. Season over if he makes an out. The whole dugout watching a man they had been sitting for two weeks. Seattle sent him down because he could not hit. Tonight Tampa Bay's entire season came down to whether he could hit. He could. For more stories like this, follow us on any platform @thesportsontap