The Rays and Guardians play Game 3 of the ALCS in Cleveland on Thursday with the series level at 1-1, and the schedule has changed. Bleed Cubbie Blue's Al Yellon wrote that the game was originally set for 5 p.m. CT (6 p.m. in Cleveland). It was moved to noon CT, or 1 p.m. in Cleveland, because of the weather forecast. Yahoo Sports' game thread says first pitch was moved up to noon without naming a time zone. Sportsnet lists 1:00 p.m. ET / 10:00 a.m. PT, which matches Yellon's Cleveland time. Yellon added that Game 4 of the NLCS between the Brewers and Dodgers was also moved up an hour.
Griffin Jax starts for Tampa Bay against Cleveland's Gavin Williams, both right-handers, per Yahoo and Sportsnet. Yahoo calls it a pivotal game, since the winner takes the series lead.
The two starters arrive with different workloads. Williams made 32 appearances this season and threw 184.1 innings, going 14-8 with a 3.76 ERA and 248 strikeouts. Jax made 34 appearances but threw only 112.1 innings, going 8-10 with a 3.53 ERA and 116 strikeouts. His ERA is a shade lower than Williams's, but he has pitched far fewer innings per appearance.
The series has followed the home team's script so far. Cleveland won Game 1 at Tampa Bay 7-3 on Monday, Oct. 12, and the Rays answered with a 3-1 win on Tuesday, Oct. 13. The Rays finished 98-64 and won the AL East. The Guardians were 85-77 and won the AL Central. That gap of 13 wins makes the even series less surprising to the Guardians than the standings would suggest.
One note on the sourcing: the Reddit game thread lists the matchup as Rays (1-1) at Guardians (1-1) with a 1:00 p.m. start, which agrees with the series score above. The Yahoo headline calls the series "Best-of-five," and none of the feed summaries elaborate on that.
The series stays in Cleveland on Friday, Oct. 16, when the Rays are scheduled to visit the Guardians again for Game 4. In the NLCS, the Brewers, 103-59 in the regular season, have won their last three games against the Dodgers, including 6-2 at Los Angeles on Wednesday. They play there again Thursday.
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