The Tampa Bay Rays are headed to the World Series for the third time in franchise history after beating the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night at Tropicana Field, closing out a series that swung their way only in its final three games. Tampa Bay will open the Fall Classic on Friday against a Milwaukee Brewers team that arrives having swept the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers out of the National League Championship Series.
The Guardians had looked like the better team through three games, winning the opener 1-0 on the road and taking a 2-1 series lead by Game 3. But the Rays won three straight to close it out — 7-3 in Game 4, 3-1 in Game 5, and Monday's 7-3 clincher in front of 40,230 fans at Tropicana Field, according to ESPN's box score of the decisive game. The win gives the Rays the American League pennant for the first time since 2020, when they lost the World Series to the Dodgers; their only other pennant, in 2008, ended in a loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Milwaukee's Long Wait Ends
Across the bracket, Milwaukee's path to the pennant carried more historical weight. The Brewers had never reached the World Series since 1982, when they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games — the longest such drought of any National League franchise still waiting for a title. They erased it in dramatic fashion, finishing off a four-game sweep of the Dodgers on Thursday with a 6-4 win at Dodger Stadium after trailing 4-0.
Shohei Ohtani's three-run homer in the second inning put Los Angeles ahead before Milwaukee clawed back, tying the game by the fifth and taking the lead for good on Garrett Mitchell's 409-foot go-ahead homer in the sixth. David Hamilton added a two-out solo shot off closer Edwin Díaz in the ninth, and reliever Aaron Ashby closed out three scoreless innings for the save, according to an Associated Press account carried by stations across the country.
"We weren't coming in to play patty-cake," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said afterward. "They may have a bunch of Hall of Famers, but we've got a bunch of gamers — and the gamers won this week." Captain Christian Yelich described the mood after falling behind early: "We got down early tonight and we were like, it's going to be a great story." Mitchell, whose homer turned the game, called the moment "absolutely surreal," while Dodgers manager Dave Roberts offered a rueful aside: "I'm not used to those consolation speeches."
What's Next
Brewers owner Mark Attanasio tied the achievement to the franchise's history, saying it mattered "for the community, the entire state of Wisconsin" — a nod to late club figures Bud Selig and Bob Uecker, both closely associated with Milwaukee baseball for decades. Because the Brewers finished the regular season with the better record of the two pennant winners, they will host Games 1 and 2 of the World Series, which opens Friday at American Family Field after a week-long layoff for both clubs.
For the Rays, the pennant caps a run that began with a division-series sweep of the New York Yankees. Manager Kevin Cash's club will now try to do what its 2008 and 2020 predecessors could not: win the franchise's first championship. For the Brewers, simply being back on the sport's biggest stage after 44 years is already being treated in Milwaukee as a kind of vindication, regardless of how the series against Tampa Bay turns out.
