The American League championship race has been set, and it brings together two teams that reached this point in very different ways. The Tampa Bay Rays stormed through the Yankees in a Division Series sweep after spending the regular season as the AL’s best club, while the Cleveland Guardians survived a tougher path and arrive with momentum thanks to Jose Ramirez and a three-game run of elimination-game victories over the White Sox.
For Tampa Bay, this is a familiar stage. The Rays are back in the ALCS for the third time, and their last trip to the World Series came in the shortened 2020 season, when they fell to the Dodgers. Before that, they had already handled the Red Sox in their first ALCS appearance in 2008 before dropping the Fall Classic to the Phillies.
Cleveland is trying to push through as the underdog, but the Guardians have shown they can ride a hot stretch deep into October. They were in this round two years ago before losing to the Yankees, and their most recent World Series appearance came in the 2016 classic against the Cubs. The city is still waiting for its first championship since 1948.
Game 1 of the series is set for Monday, Oct. 12 at 8 p.m. ET, with Game 2 on Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 8 p.m.
ET. The scene shifts to Cleveland for Game 3 on Thursday, Oct. 15 at 6 p.m.
ET and Game 4 on Friday, Oct. 16 at 6 p.m. ET.
If the series goes the distance, Game 5 is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 17 at 8 p.m. ET, Game 6 for Monday, Oct. 19 at 5 p.m.
ET, and Game 7 for Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 8 p.m. ET.
Every game will air on TBS nationally, and fans can also stream the series through DIRECTV. The full schedule is listed as follows:
Mon., Oct. 12 - Game 1: Rays vs.
Guardians - 8 p.m. - TBS, DIRECTV
Tue., Oct.
13 - Game 2: Rays vs. Guardians - 8 p.m. - TBS, DIRECTV
Thu., Oct. 15 - Game 3: Guardians vs.
Rays - 6 p.m. - TBS, DIRECTV
Fri., Oct.
16 - Game 4: Guardians vs. Rays - 6 p.m. - TBS, DIRECTV
Sat., Oct. 17 - Game 5*: Guardians vs.
Rays - 8 p.m. - TBS, DIRECTV
Mon., Oct.
19 - Game 6*: Rays vs. Guardians - 5 p.m. - TBS, DIRECTV
Tue., Oct. 20 - Game 7*: Rays vs.
Guardians - 8 p.m. - TBS, DIRECTV
- If necessary
The postseason calendar began with the Wild Card round on Tuesday, Sept. 29, followed by the Division Series on Saturday, Oct. 3.
The NLCS starts on Sunday, Oct. 11, the ALCS on Monday, Oct. 12, and the World Series on Friday, Oct. 23.
In Other News...
Rays Open ALCS With A Pitching Edge That Could Change Everything
The American League Championship Series opens Monday at Tropicana Field with Tampa Bay already set up the way it likes to be set up in October: leaning on pitching depth and trying to make the other side solve one matchup after another. Cleveland has announced Triston McKenzie for Game 1, with Parker Messick, Gavin Williams and Daniel Espino among the other rotation possibilities, while the Rays are preparing to go with Drew Rasmussen at the front of a group that has given them a clear edge in recent weeks.
Rasmussen has been effective since the All-Star break, and that matters in a series where every early lead can feel decisive. Tampa Bays plan is built to keep arms fresh and pressure constant, and the way the Rays handle the back end of the rotation could end up being just as important as the first pitch on Monday. [Read more 🡒]
Rays Bring One Big Edge Into ALCS Showdown With Cleveland
The ALCS matchup between the Guardians and Rays brings together two clubs that know each other well, and Tampa Bay arrives with a clear regular-season edge in the background. Clevelands pitching was strong enough to keep the series competitive across the summer, with Parker Messick and Gavin Williams helping anchor that side of the matchup, but the Rays also showed they could control games with their own arms and make life difficult for the Guardians.
Tampa Bays deeper lineup is part of what makes this series feel tilted its way on paper, even before the first pitch of Octobers biggest round. The Rays did enough head-to-head damage to build confidence heading into Cleveland, and their starting pitching gave them a formula that worked when these teams met before. What remains to be seen is whether that edge holds when the stakes rise and the margin for error gets much smaller. [Read more 🡒]
Junior Caminero Is Changing How Fans See The Rays Again
Junior Caminero has become one of the more recognizable young stars in Tampa Bay, and his rise has given the Rays another reminder that their player development machine can still reshape how people view the roster. Signed by the Guardians as an amateur free agent in 2019, Caminero was still just a prospect when he arrived in the Rays system, but he has since grown into a premier third baseman and a legitimate MVP-level presence.
The backstory only adds to the fascination around him, because the move that brought him to Tampa Bay was viewed at the time as a fairly small transaction. Now, with Caminero carrying so much of the clubs future and changing the conversation around the lineup again, it is easy to see why Rays followers keep circling back to the details of how he got here. [Read more 🡒]