Sports
Rays eliminate Guardians, book World Series trip to Milwaukee
Tampa Bay beat Cleveland 7-3 in Game 6 of the ALCS, powered by home runs from Yandy Díaz and Junior Caminero. The Rays will open the World Series Friday against the Brewers, with both franchises seeking their first championship.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays are headed to the World Series after beating the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 on Monday night, closing out the American League Championship Series in six games at Tropicana Field.
Yandy Díaz and Junior Caminero each hit a two-run home run, and Freddy Peralta limited Cleveland to one run over 5⅓ innings. The Rays will face the Milwaukee Brewers, the National League champions, with Game 1 scheduled for Friday night in Milwaukee. Neither team has won a World Series title.
Díaz’s 416-foot homer to left in the eighth inning gave Tampa Bay a 7-3 lead and capped a performance that followed his public prediction of a Game 6 win. Caminero had put the Rays ahead 5-1 in the seventh with his first career postseason home run, a drive off the left-field foul pole.
Cleveland threatened in the eighth, loading the bases with two outs and bringing the tying run to the plate. The Guardians scored twice on a walk and a hit batter before Kevin Kelly entered and struck out Brayan Rocchio to end the rally.
The Rays took control early. Richie Palacios’ two-run double in the second inning opened the scoring, and Jonny DeLuca’s sacrifice fly made it 3-0 in the third. Cleveland’s Nathaniel Lowe drove in the Guardians’ first run in the sixth.
Peralta, named ALCS MVP, earned his second win of the series. He also delivered six scoreless innings in Game 2 and recorded two key outs in relief during Game 4. “This is not only mine. We all earned this,” he said after the clincher.
Tampa Bay, which has played 29 seasons as a major-league franchise, won its third American League pennant. It last reached the World Series in 2020, when it lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games. The Rays fell behind Cleveland twice in this series before winning the final three games.
The club’s path back to the postseason has included a return to Tropicana Field after extensive damage from Hurricane Milton forced it to play its 2025 home games at the Yankees’ spring training complex in Tampa. The Rays won 55 games at home during the regular season, tied for the league’s best total with Milwaukee.
A sellout crowd of 40,230 filled the stadium Monday, waving rally towels and ringing cowbells. The Rays are also planning a new ballpark near the Buccaneers’ stadium, expected to be ready in 2029.
For Cleveland, the defeat extended the franchise’s World Series title drought to 78 years. “It just hurts. It stings,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “Really felt like we had a team to go and just weren’t able to get there.”