League Championship Series Day Eight Game Thread

We’re all tied back up in this series after the Rays’ victory in Game Four yesterday. The Guardians had a chance to put them away at home but one way or another this series will head back to Tampa Bay. Who wins tonight will determine who gets back to Florida in the driver’s seat, and who has their backs up against the wall in a must-win contest on Monday evening. And thanks to the rain delay a couple days ago it’s a quick turnaround for everyone. It’s now a best-of-three and either of these teams could be the World Series winner in a couple of weeks. A trip to the Fall Classic is on the line. Doesn’t get much better for baseball fans.

Rays at Guardians (2:08 PM PST)

For Tampa Bay, they’ll be sending their ace out there in Drew Rasmussen (16-5, 2.67 ERA). The right-hander has been fantastic in the playoffs and continued to look strong against Cleveland in Game 1. His bullpen ended up failing him as they allowed five runs in the final couple of frames to blow the game for Rasmussen. Still, that’s an outlier for the Rays and they have to feel good about who they have on the mound. If there was one game they needed to win this season, they’d pick the guy they have on the mound today.

Here’s Tampa’s starting nine for this one:

While the Rays have their ace on the mound for this critical Game 5, the Guardians have their own stud up their sleeve. Left-handed rookie Parker Messick (12-9, 2.56 ERA) will be making his fourth start this postseason this afternoon looking to help Cleveland go up 3-2 in the ALCS. No one outside of Cleveland saw his incredible rookie season coming. Messick was not only consistent in his first extended look as a major league starter, he was downright ace-like. That’s more or less continued into the postseason, though manager Stephen Vogt has had a quicker hook in the playoffs for his rookie southpaw. Messick took a tough-luck loss in Game 2 so he’ll be looking to bounce back and do his part for a Guardians team looking to break their 78-year championship drought.

And the Cleveland starting lineup, courtesy of our old friend Vogt:

This is a huge one. In best-of-seven series tied 2-2, the Game 5 winner has ended up winning the series 46 out of 68 times, 67% of the time. Delving deeper, with the 2-3-2 format, teams taking a 3-2 lead and heading back home for Games 6 & 7 have won 20 out of 27 times, 74%. Based off that alone one would say that suddenly the pressure is on Cleveland tonight. They were up 2-1 in this series but if they lose today they’re down 3-2 heading back to Tampa. The stakes continue to rise. Who you guys got winning this one?