Tampa Bay Rays Make Roster Change for Bullpen Ahead of World Series

The Tampa Bay Rays are getting set to play the Milwaukee Brewers in the World Series, with things kicking off on Friday night. 

For both teams, they were able to have the best records in their respective leagues, and they have also been able to have some impressive series wins in the postseason. 

The Brewers being able to not only beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, but sweep them in the NLCS has sent a major message. The Dodgers were going for a three-peat, but they looked like an old team against the Brewers. 

For the Rays, they also had an impressive series win with their sweep of the New York Yankees in the ALDS. While the Cleveland Guardians did give them a run for their money to start the ALCS, they ultimately came away victorious. 

Now, with the World Series set to begin, the team has had to finalize their roster. It was mostly the same as in the ALCS, but they did make a switch in their bullpen with Garrett Cleavinger coming in and Brody Hopkins going out. 

Rays Flip Brody Hopkins for Garrett Cleavinger 

With the World Series starting up on Friday night, Tampa Bay has only made one roster change, and that will be to have Garrett Cleavinger take the spot of Hopkins. 

So far in the postseason, neither has pitched for the Rays, but with a potentially long World Series coming against the Milwaukee Brewers, pitching depth is always an important thing. 

Between the two of them, it is Cleavinger who has more experience and also who pitched more for the team during the regular season. The southpaw totaled a 4.79 ERA in 41.1 innings pitched and struck out 54 batters. Left-handed pitching is always valuable in the postseason, and with the Brewers having a couple of left-handed hitters that hurt the Los Angeles Dodgers, that likely factored into the decision-making. 

For Hopkins, the talented right-hander is going to be a key piece of the franchise going forward, but he hasn’t exactly knocked the door down to deserve a spot in his limited time during the regular season. 

With neither being overly impressive during the regular season and neither seeing action in the postseason, going with the veteran and the left-hander makes sense for Kevin Cash. 

The Rays will be kicking things off on Friday night and will be hopeful to steal a game on the road in Milwaukee.