Rays Eliminate Guardians, Finalize Historic World Series Matchup

An announced sellout crowd of 40,230 packed Tropicana Field on Monday, Oct. 19 to see the Tampa Bay Rays clinch their first American League pennant since 2020. They did not go home disappointed.

The Rays defeated the Cleveland Guardians in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, 7-3. Up next: a World Series date with the Milwaukee Brewers beginning Friday at American Family Field.

It's the first Tampa Bay-Milwaukee World Series matchup ever. One team is bound to win the first championship in franchise history.

The Rays never trailed the Guardians in Game 6. Rays starting pitcher Freddy Peralta allowed only one run in 5.1 innings. The Guardians deployed a bullpen game in hopes of extending the series to Game 7, but trailed 3-0 after the third inning.

Cleveland fought back to narrow the score to 3-1 and 5-3. Yandy Diaz's two-run home run in the eighth inning against Guardians pitcher Hunter Gaddis gave the Rays a pair of insurance runs, and earned him a curtain call at Tropicana Field.

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Tampa Bay lost the 2008 World Series to the Philadelphia Phillies, and the 2020 World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Only two players who took part in the Rays' last World Series — Diaz and pitcher Shane McClanahan, who's dealing with an injury — were still with the team this season.

Despite the fifth-smallest Opening Day payroll in MLB, the Rays finished the regular season with the American League's best record, clinching home-field advantage to this point in October.

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"I thought this team really came together about as well as you could in the Spring Training setting, given the roster turnover that took place," Rays manager Kevin Cash said before the game. "There were a lot of new faces. And you could sense it was a pretty close-nit group.

"Any challenges along the way, I think they were handled incredibly well," Cash continued. "Coming out of the All-Star break, getting swept by Boston did not derail this group at all. You're looking at a divisional opponent that's getting hot, and they were as hot as any team in baseball. And we got beat. We weren't beating ourselves. We got beat. But that didn't change the mindset. There was no panic. They just stayed at it."

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