Tampa Bay will face the Milwaukee Brewers in the World Series after the Rays on Monday won the American League Championship Series over Cleveland.
It will mark the third World Series berth for the Rays, who are searching for the franchise’s first MLB title after appearances in 2008 and 2020.
Cleveland took a 2-1 ALCS lead before Tampa roared back with successive wins in Game 4 and Game 5 to set up Monday’s clinching 7-3 win in Game 6.
Tampa jumped to an early lead after a double by Richie Palacios drove in two runs in the second inning. One inning later, a sacrifice fly by Jonny DeLuca brought in another run for a 3-0 lead. When Cleveland trimmed the lead to 3-1 in the sixth inning, Tampa answered with a two-run homer by Junior Caminero in the seventh.
Tampa Bay Rays’ Richie Palacios reacts after a single during the sixth inning at Tropicana Field on Monday. Julio Aguilar / Getty
Cleveland applied pressure again by scoring two runs in the eighth to cut the lead to 5-3, but Tampa was ready for another answer in its next at-bat. A two-run homer by Yandy Diaz extended the lead to 7-3.
When the Brewers and Rays meet in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday, a first-time champion will be guaranteed. The Brewers are making their first World Series appearance since 1982. It will be a showdown of the teams that finished with the best records in the National and American leagues. Milwaukee finished with an MLB-high 103 wins, while Tampa had 98. The teams played three times in the regular season with Milwaukee winning twice, but all three games occurred during the first week of the season.
Tampa Bay Rays’ Junior Caminero celebrates a two-run home run against the Cleveland Guardians on Monday. Phelan M. Ebenhack / AP
The Rays have advanced to baseball’s biggest stage despite building a roster using the third-lowest payroll. Milwaukee wasn’t a big spender, itself, ranking 19th in payroll. Yet the clubs from small markets with relatively low payrolls found ways to play the best baseball in each of their respective leagues this season en route to the World Series.
Tampa entered Monday’s Game 6 allowing just 1.0 walks and hits per inning pitched while sweeping the New York Yankees in the divisional round, then facing Cleveland. The Rays’ postseason star has been pitcher Drew Rasmussen, who has allowed three earned runs combined in his three appearances.
Few would have expected this season from Tampa after the franchise finished its 2023 and 2024 seasons in fourth place in the AL East while finishing lower than .500 each year. Making matters even more difficult was that the team didn’t even have its home stadium available for much of that stretch, after Hurricane Milton tore the roof off of Tropicana Field in downtown St. Petersburg in October 2024. It took until August for the Rays to host games in the stadium again, following a $60 million roof renovation.
