Tampa Bay will face the Milwaukee Brewers in the World Series after the Rays won the American League Championship Series against Cleveland on Monday.
It will be the third World Series berth for the Rays, who are seeking the franchise’s first MLB title after appearances in 2008 and 2020.
Cleveland took a 2-1 lead in the ALCS before Tampa fought back with successive wins in Games 4 and 5 to set up Monday’s 7-3 victory in Game 6.
Tampa took an early lead after a Richie Palacios double drove in two runs in the second inning. An inning later, a Jonny DeLuca sacrifice fly brought in another run for a 3-0 lead. When Cleveland cut the lead to 3-1 in the sixth inning, Tampa responded with a two-run homer from Junior Caminero in the seventh.
Cleveland applied the pressure again, scoring two runs in the eighth to cut the lead to 5-3, but Tampa was ready for another answer in its next at-bat. A two-run homer by Yandy Diaz extended the lead to 7-3.
When the Brewers and Rays meet Friday in Game 1 of the World Series, a first-time champion will be assured. The Brewers are making their first World Series appearance since 1982. It will be a showdown between the teams that finished with the best records in the National and American Leagues. Milwaukee finished with an MLB-record 103 wins, while Tampa had 98. The teams played three times in the regular season, with Milwaukee winning twice, but all three games took place in the first week of the season.
The Rays ascended to baseball’s biggest stage despite building a team with the third-lowest payroll. Milwaukee wasn’t a big spender per se, ranking 19th in payroll. Yet small-market clubs with relatively low payrolls have found a way to play the best baseball in each of their respective leagues this season en route to the World Series.
Tampa entered Monday’s Game 6 allowing just 1.0 walks and hits per inning pitched while sweeping the New York Yankees in the divisional round and then facing Cleveland. The Rays’ star postseason has been pitcher Drew Rasmussen, who has allowed a combined three earned runs in his three appearances.
Few could have expected this season from Tampa after the franchise finished its 2023 and 2024 seasons in fourth place in the AL East while finishing below .500 each year. What made things even more difficult was that the team didn’t even have its stadium available for much of that time, after Hurricane Milton tore the roof off Tropicana Field in downtown St. Petersburg in October 2024. It took until August for the Rays to host games at the stadium again, after a $60 million roof renovation.
Gn sports
