Whichever team wins, it will be a first championship in franchise history. The Tampa Bay Rays and the Milwaukee Brewers will face off for the Major League Baseball title.
Tampa Bay beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, a best-of-seven format, at Tropicana Field in Florida on the 20th, Korea time. The win gave the Rays the series 4-2 and sent them to the World Series, also a best-of-seven, for the first time in six years. Tampa Bay will play National League champion Milwaukee in Game 1 at 9 a.m. on the 24th at American Family Field, Milwaukee's home ballpark.
Cleveland, which last won the World Series in 1948, has gone 78 years without a title, the longest drought among the 30 major league clubs. The Guardians raised hopes by taking a 2-1 series lead in this year's ALCS but then lost three straight games.
Tampa Bay won on the day behind Freddy Peralta, who had pitched in relief in Game 4 and returned two days later as the starter, allowing one run over 5 1/3 innings.
Both Tampa Bay and Milwaukee are chasing their first World Series title. Tampa Bay is seeking a championship 28 years after its founding in 1998, while Milwaukee is after one 57 years after being established in 1969. Tampa Bay previously reached the World Series in 2008 and 2020 but was stopped by the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers, respectively.
Whichever team prevails, it would be the first small-market champion since the Kansas City Royals in 2015, an 11-year gap. Both clubs have below-average team payrolls this year.