The Tampa Bay Rays are going to the World Series for the third time in franchise history, and the first time since 2020. The Rays closed out the American League Championship Series with their Game 6 win over the Cleveland Guardians at Tropicana Field on Monday (TB 7, CLE 3). The Rays will take on the Milwaukee Brewers when the World Series begins Friday.
Neither the Brewers nor Rays have ever won the World Series, guaranteeing a first-time champion in 2026. This is the first World Series between two teams seeking their first title since the Phillies vs. Royals in 1980.
Tampa took a 2-0 lead in the second inning of Game 6 thanks to a two-out, two-strike, two-run left-on-left double by Richie Palacios. He spoiled two pretty good two-strike breaking balls before getting something he could rope into the outfield. The Rays added a third run an inning later, then Junior Caminero and Yandy Díaz busted it open with two-run homers late.
Freddy Peralta had just one 1-2-3 inning on the night, but he held the Guardians to one run in 5 ⅓ innings, and limited damage in a way Cleveland's pitchers were unable to do in Game 6. Peralta now has a 2.75 ERA in 72 innings with the Rays after pitching to a 4.99 ERA in 113 ⅔ innings with the Mets before the trade deadline. What a pickup he has been.
The Guardians did not go down quietly. They brought the tying run to the plate in the eighth inning, and inched closer with two runs when Ian Seymour walked Patrick Bailey and hit Angel Martinez with the bases loaded. Kevin Kelly then struck out Brayan Rocchio to leave the bags full and limit the damage. All-Star closer Bryan Baker slammed the door in the ninth.
The World Series will begin Friday night at American Family Field in Milwaukee. The Brewers and Rays share a lot of common DNA -- Brewers POBO Matt Arnold worked in Tampa's front office before heading north -- and they also have small payrolls. It will be a small-market World Series, but make no mistake, these are two very good, very entertaining teams.
Here now are our winners and losers from Game 6 of the ALCS.
"It all ends tomorrow. We're going to win tomorrow." -- Yandy Díaz following Tampa's Game 5 win.
The longest-tenured Rays player called his shot and then backed it up. Díaz clubbed a two-run homer in the eighth inning of Game 6 to put an exclamation point on his team's win. He talked the talk, then walked the walk.
"I'm really glad he backed it up. That's for sure. But happy for Yandy," Rays manager Kevin Cash said after the game. " ... But we know when Yandy goes, our offense seems to really take off."
The Rays outscored the Guardians 17-7 in three games after falling behind in the series 2-1. The Fightin' Yandys scored early and often in Game 6, and punched their ticket to the World Series.
The Rays had baseball's lowest strikeout rate during the regular season and it wasn't until there were two outs in the fifth inning that they struck out for the first time in Game 6. Victor Mesa Jr., Tampa's 23rd batter of the game, was Cleveland's first strikeout victim. This is what the Rays do. They put the ball in play, often on the bouncy Tropicana Field turf, and run like crazy.
There is no better example of this than Chandler Simpson's bunt single in the third inning. This loaded the bases with no outs and led to the Rays scoring their third run of the game.
Tampa led baseball in bunt hits (Rays players finished second, third, and fourth in bunt hits) and were second in infield hits during the regular season. Bunting, and putting the ball on the ground and running, are a dying art. Well, dying before the Rays decided to bring it back, anyway. It's a copycat league. I'm sure other teams will try to build a similar offense now.
Anyway, the Rays struck out 13 times in Game 3 and 12 times in Game 4. It was the fourth time all season (and the first time since June) that the Rays struck out 10-plus times in back-to-back games. How did they respond? They struck out six times in Game 5 and only three times in Game 6. That's nine strikeouts in 78 trips to the plate. Put the ball in play and good things will happen.
The World Series will be a fun matchup. Tampa puts the ball in play more than any other team and the Brewers field one of the best defenses in the sport. Let's not get ahead of ourselves though. In Game 6, the Rays used their MLB-best contact skills to put the Guardians away and win the pennant. Cleveland just could not get a swing and a miss in a big spot to limit damage.
It is ironic that the Guardians had to resort to a bullpen game with their season on the line in Game 6 after having the game's most stable rotation during the regular season. Cleveland was the only team with four pitchers who made at least 30 starts, and they used only eight different starters all season. One of the eight, Logan Allen, made just two spot starts during doubleheaders.
And yet, a lack of trust in Tanner Bibee (three batters faced this postseason) forced the Guardians into a bullpen game in Game 6. Bibee started Opening Day this year, and now this is him, basically:
The most humbling job in sports is "guy who makes 33 regular-season starts only to find out his team would rather do 10 bullpen games than let him pitch in the postseason"
— Sam Miller (@sammillerbb.bsky.social) October 19, 2026 at 8:59 PM
Shawn Armstrong, Cleveland's Game 6 opener, pitched back-to-back-to-back days for the first time since 2017. Tim Herrin, the second guy out of the bullpen, also pitched back-to-back-to-back days. Matt Festa, whose Game 4 appearance was his first game action in 21 days, was the third guy out of the bullpen. The Guardians were behind the 8-ball in Game 6, pitching-wise.
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt's desperation showed when he brought closer Cade Smith into the seventh inning of Game 6 to keep it a 3-1 deficit. That didn't work. Smith walked Liam Hicks and then gave up a two-run homer off the foul pole to Caminero. It was Smith's ninth appearance in 17 days. He simply looked gassed. So did Cleveland's entire bullpen.
In the end, the Guardians ran out of pitching, and perhaps it didn't matter because their offense scored seven runs total in the final three games of the ALCS. It just felt like they were doomed from the start. Cleveland didn't have enough pitching to get through Game 6, and they would have had to play a Game 7 to win the series too.
The man who had so many clutch moments during the regular season was simply dreadful in October. Rocchio went 5 for 35 with nine strikeouts in 11 postseason games, including striking out on three pitches with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth inning of Game 6. It was about as bad of an at-bat as you'll ever see.
Rocchio went 3 for 16 (.188) with runners on base in the postseason. He killed rally after rally, none bigger than the eighth inning of Game 6. Rocchio had a chance to really swing things in Cleveland's favor, and instead flailed away hopelessly.
The final score is 7-3. The Rays have secured their third AL pennant. Previously they pulled off the feat in 2008 and 2020. They are one of five teams to have never won the World Series. So are the Brewers, their opponent in this World Series. That group will shrink to four in 2026.
Baker has induced a pair of groundouts to start the ninth.
The offense provided two runs of insurance in the seventh and the Rays' relievers gave those right back. So the offense responded with another two-run home run. It was Yandy Díaz with this blast.
Remember, he was the one who said the Rays WILL win this game.
Díaz is a two-time All-Star who has been with the Rays for eight seasons, which very, very rarely happens in this organization. He was a starter on the 2020 AL pennant winner.
As a reminder, he's only gone three straight days once this season and there have been velocity concerns.
We head to the bottom of the eighth with the Rays leading 5-3.
An item of interest is even though leaving the bases loaded is a total bummer, the Guardians now have the top of the order and only a two-run deficit (if the pitching can hold it) for the ninth. That means Steven Kwan and José Ramírez to start.
It's now 5-3 Rays with the Guardians still having the bases loaded. It'll be Brayan Rocchio. The Rays are taking out Ian Seymour and here comes Kevin Kelly. Things are now tense just a few minutes after The Trop was party central.
Well this got interesting in a hurry.
Bailey draws a walk and it's now 5-2. The tying run is at first and go-ahead run is Angel Martinez and he has some power.
The Guardians have brought the tying run to the plate and it's Patrick Bailey. The bases are loaded with two out. 5-1 Rays.
Patrick Bailey is at the plate representing the tying run. The good news is he can't ground into another double play (there are two outs).
Another opportunity for a four-out save here, but Kevin Cash is going to Ian Seymour rather than Bryan Baker. Baker's velocity has been down quite a bit the last few weeks. He barely scraped 92 mph in Game 4.
Statcast had Junior Caminero's home-to-home time at 38.66 seconds. That's the longest postseason homer trot of the Statcast era (since 2015).
— Sam Dykstra (@samdykstramilb.bsky.social) October 19, 2026 at 10:26 PM
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The Rays have added two insurance runs as Junior Caminero hits one off the left-field foul pole to give the Rays a 5-1 lead.
Caminero hit 42 home runs this season after 45 last year. This was, however, his first career playoff home run. On the flip side, Cade Smith had only allowed six home runs between the regular season and playoffs before this one. He had worked 84 ⅓ innings.
This is the All-Star closers ninth appearance out of 11 Guardians playoff games. He was not used in Games 2 or 4 of this series and that's it for ALDS and ALCS.
Easy inning for Booser and it's getting late for the Guardians.
Erik Sabrowski gives up a leadoff single to Richie Palacios then gets the next three Rays hitters. It's 3-1 Rays after 6.
Rays closer Bryan Baker pitched both Saturday and Sunday. He pitched three straight days one time this season. It was Aug. 22-24. He didn't fall apart in the third game or anything (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 K, Save). But he hasn't done it often.
Cam Booser gets two outs, stranding the runner at first, and the Rays carry a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth.
Chase DeLauter doubled to lead off the sixth and Nathaniel Lowe singled him in for Cleveland's first run of the game. That'll drive Freddy Peralta out of the game after 5+ innings and just one run allowed, though he's responsible for the runner on first. Cam Booser is coming in for the Rays.
The game is moving along now. Victor Mesa Jr. struck out for the second out of the fifth inning. That was Tampa's first strikeout of the game. They are 12 outs away from the World Series.
Tampa has had multiple runners on base in every inning but the first. The Guardians have had at least one runner on base in every inning but the second. Lots of traffic on both sides, but one team is pushing runners across and the other is stranding them.
The Rays have gone through the lineup twice now, and they haven't struck out once.
Travis Bazzana flew out to right, then Patrick Bailey hit into his fourth double in his last eight at-bats. It's 3-0 Rays going to the bottom of the fourth.
They've had traffic most of the night. They just haven't been able to get The Big Hit. Cleveland has runners at first and second with no outs to begin the fourth inning.
The Rays have outscored the Guardians 13-3 since Cleveland took a 1-0 lead in Game 4.
He lifts a sacrifice fly to left field and Steven Kwan's throw home was cut off. All things considered, Joey Cantillo did well to allow just the one run after the Rays loaded the bases with no outs. It's getting late early for the Guardians though. They're down 3-0 after three innings. They haven't scored more than three runs since Game 1.
A leadoff bloop single, a walk, and a bunt single have loaded the bases with no outs. Tampa is up 2-0 and threatening to fully bust this game open.
Peralta struck out DeLauter to end the inning. ABS overturned ball three into strike three. The Guards strand the two runners.
Kinda cheesy but no one ever accused me of being anything else: It's really nice to see players come back and support their former teammates! Or I guess maybe they're rooting against them, but I'll believe in the power of friendship.
Chase DeLauter is up after Steven Kwan singled and José Ramírez drew a walk, both with two outs. The Guardians really, really, really need a big swing here.
