The Rays clinched the American League pennant Monday night with a 7-3 win over the Guardians in Game 6 of the ALCS. It is the franchise's third World Series berth, per ESPN, and its first since 2020, per Sportsnet. They will face the Brewers.
The game turned in the late innings. Junior Caminero hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh. ESPN identified it as his first career postseason homer and said it came off Cleveland All-Star closer Cade Smith. Yandy Díaz homered in the eighth. Yahoo Sports credited the two of them with carrying Tampa Bay to the Series. Our box score shows Díaz driving in two runs and Caminero going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a walk. Tampa Bay led 3-0 after three innings, with two runs in the second and one in the third. Cleveland scored once in the sixth and twice in the eighth, so the Rays were still protecting a lead late.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLE | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| TB | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | – | 7 | 7 | 0 |
Freddy Peralta was named ALCS MVP, per Yahoo Sports. He got the win Monday, allowing one run on five hits over 5.1 innings. That is a different kind of pitcher from the one who finished the regular season with a 4.42 ERA over 169.0 innings and a 10-11 record. The final out was a soft pop-up by Chase DeLauter in foul territory. Liam Hicks, whom Sportsnet notes is Canadian, caught it. DeLauter hit .287 with 16 homers in the regular season and went 2-for-5 with a double in the finale. Sportsnet's Shi Davidi also pointed to the noise of the Tampa Bay crowd as a factor in the series. The announced attendance was 30,230.
The Rays closed the series on a three-game win streak. They won 3-1 on Friday, Oct. 16, and 7-3 on Saturday, Oct. 17, both in Cleveland, then won 7-3 at home Monday. They finished the regular season 98-64 and won the AL East. Caminero, with 42 homers and 101 RBI, was their power source in the regular season too. Cleveland, 85-77 and the AL Central winner, now has its season ended after a run of three straight losses.
Milwaukee reached the Series by beating the Dodgers three straight, 7-4, 6-2 and 6-4, and carries a five-game winning streak. The Brewers were 103-59 in the regular season. Yahoo Sports framed the matchup as the first in which both teams are seeking their first World Series title since 1980. That wording is Yahoo's alone, and the other outlets did not repeat it.
The Series opens Friday, Oct. 23, with Tampa Bay visiting Milwaukee.
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