The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 at Tropicana Field on Monday, 19 October 2026, in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, and won the series 4-2 to reach the World Series. Junior Caminero and Yandy Diaz each hit a two-run home run, and starter Freddy Peralta threw 5 1/3 innings, allowing one run on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts. The crowd was 40,230. The Rays, who had a regular-season record of 98-64, will play the Milwaukee Brewers, who finished 103-59, in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday, 23 October, at Milwaukee.
The argument that the Rays were the better team in the series is supported by how they won the last two games. They won Game 5 at Cleveland 3-1, with Drew Rasmussen pitching seven innings and allowing one earned run on four hits with six strikeouts, and they won Game 6 by scoring in four different innings: two runs in the second, one in the third, two in the seventh and two in the eighth. Caminero, who hit 42 home runs and drove in 101 runs in the regular season, went 2 for 3 with a home run, two runs batted in, two runs scored and a walk. Diaz went 1 for 4 with his home run and two runs batted in, and Cam Booser followed Peralta with 1 2/3 scoreless innings without allowing a hit.
The counter-argument is that Cleveland were close in the series and had chances in this game. The Guardians scored in the sixth inning and added two more in the eighth, and Chase DeLauter went 2 for 5 with a double and two runs scored, while Nathaniel Lowe went 2 for 3 with a run batted in and a walk. Tyler Wells, one of the Rays’ relievers, allowed two runs on two hits in two-thirds of an inning, with an earned run average of 10.80 listed after the game, so the bullpen was not flawless. Cleveland’s record of 85-77 was 13 wins behind Tampa Bay’s, but the team came within one win of forcing a seventh game. Jose Ramirez went 0 for 4 with a walk, and the Guardians were scoreless through the first five innings.
The result matters because the Rays reach the World Series after winning the American League pennant in six games. They face a Brewers team that won 103 games, with Brice Turang leading Milwaukee with 100 runs batted in and Jake Bauers hitting 26 home runs in the regular season. The Rays had also won Game 5 at Cleveland 3-1, scoring in each of the first three innings, with Chandler Simpson going 2 for 3 with a double, a run and a stolen base, Yandy Diaz going 3 for 5 with a double and Jonathan Aranda driving in a run, while Cleveland’s only run came in the sixth. The Rays’ power comes from Caminero, who leads their regular-season numbers in home runs and runs batted in, and from Chandler Simpson, who hit .306. The matchup puts the team with the better regular-season record, Milwaukee, at home for Game 1.
Tampa Bay finished the ALCS with a strong bullpen performance and two big home runs. The Brewers have the better record, but the Rays have the power, and the World Series begins on Friday.