The Tampa Bay Rays are going to the World Series. Behind gritty pitching from Freddy Peralta and two-run homers from Junior Caminero and Yandy Díaz, the Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 in Game 6 of the ALCS on Monday night — winning the series 4-2 and setting up a World Series date with the Milwaukee Brewers starting Friday night in Milwaukee.
Tampa Bay Rays (Credits: ESPN)
Three Straight Wins Seal the Pennant
The Rays won three consecutive games after falling behind 2-1 in the series, and Game 6 felt fitting on the 18-year anniversary of their first AL pennant in 2008. Richie Palacios opened the scoring with a two-run double in the second inning, and Tampa Bay added one more in the third before Cleveland finally got on the board in the sixth.
Peralta delivered 5⅓ gutsy innings, allowing just one run on five hits for his second win of the ALCS. The dagger came in the seventh when Caminero crushed his first homer of the playoffs — a two-run shot off the foul pole — to make it 5-1. Cleveland threatened in the eighth, loading the bases with the go-ahead run at first, but Kevin Kelly struck out Brayan Rocchio to escape. Then Díaz answered with his own two-run homer in the bottom half to seal it, with closer Bryan Baker on the mound at the end.
A World Series Guaranteed to Crown a First-Timer
This will be the third World Series in the Rays’ 29-season franchise history (2008, 2020, and now 2026). Milwaukee, meanwhile, is back in the Fall Classic for the first time since 1982 after sweeping the two-time defending champion Dodgers in the NLCS. Neither franchise has ever won a World Series — it’s the first such matchup since 1980, when the Phillies beat the Royals.
The Brewers finished with a 103-59 record, the best in baseball, and wasted no time hyping the matchup, posting a graphic with the message “The Fall Classic is set” on X within hours of the clincher.
For Cleveland, the loss extended a 78-year championship drought. A sellout crowd of 40,230 at Tropicana Field — rocking again after Hurricane Milton shredded its roof two years ago — waved rally towels and rang cowbells as the Rays celebrated. As manager Kevin Cash told his team: “We got one more bite!”
Also Read: Brewers Stun Dodgers 6-4, Complete NLCS Sweep and Reach First World Series in 44 Years | Rays One Win From World Series: Rasmussen’s 7-Inning Gem Downs Guardians 3-1 in ALCS Game 5
Source: ESPN — read the full story there.
