Thursday’s October slate opens in Cleveland, where Griffin Jax takes the ball for Tampa Bay against Gavin Williams with the American League Championship Series even at one game apiece. Later, Tyler Glasnow will try to keep Los Angeles alive as the Dodgers return home facing a 3-0 National League Championship Series hole against Milwaukee.
The result
There is no clincher in Cleveland yet. The Rays and Guardians have reached the swing game of a tied series, and Game 3 arrives at 1 p.m. ET with both clubs looking for the first real edge of the ALCS.
Tampa Bay’s lineup still revolves around Junior Caminero, even if the young slugger is waiting for his first October homer. Caminero, 23, already owns 94 regular-season home runs, two All-Star selections and a ninth-place finish in last year’s AL MVP voting. He is expected to place even higher this season.
His postseason résumé remains brief: seven games, 22 plate appearances, five hits in 19 at-bats, one RBI and no home runs. Two of those appearances came as a 20-year-old pinch-hitter during the 2023 AL Wild Card Series against Texas. For a player so central to Tampa Bay’s next several seasons, Game 3 offers a natural stage for the signature swing that has not yet arrived.
Cleveland will hand the ball to Williams, whose October workload has already shown how much manager Stephen Vogt trusts him. Williams was used to finish Game 4 of the Division Series against the White Sox, entering the ninth with a four-run lead despite being lined up for a possible Game 5 start. Two days later, he worked 5 2/3 scoreless innings in the deciding game, permitting one hit while striking out 12.
Since Sept. 1, Williams has posted a 2.25 ERA across 40 innings, giving up 24 hits and recording 68 strikeouts. His final regular-season outing in Kansas City was a rough one, but the big right-hander has become Cleveland’s most trusted October arm. Whether Vogt keeps him on a traditional starting schedule, turns to him out of the bullpen again, or reserves him for a possible Game 7 remains part of the series tension.
| Game | Series status | First pitch | Starting pitchers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rays at Guardians, ALCS Game 3 | Tied 1-1 | 1 p.m. ET | Griffin Jax, Rays; Gavin Williams, Guardians |
| Brewers at Dodgers, NLCS Game 4 | Milwaukee leads 3-0 | 8 p.m. ET | Milwaukee TBA; Tyler Glasnow, Dodgers |
The rotation next
Jax and Williams are the named starters for the afternoon game, while Glasnow is set for Los Angeles in the nightcap. Milwaukee had not announced its Game 4 starter.
The Dodgers have led at some point in every game of the NLCS, including after six innings in Wednesday’s Game 3, but those leads have not changed the larger picture. Los Angeles has produced only seven runs in the three losses, and its veteran core has provided little October lift. The club is also playing through injuries, with Shohei Ohtani the most prominent example.
For the reigning champions, the assignment is as stark as it gets. No team has overcome a 3-0 postseason deficit except one, and Los Angeles must start with one clean win behind Glasnow. The franchise is trying to become the first since the Yankees of 1998 through 2000 to win three straight World Series titles. Those Yankees did not complete a fourth, but they took the 2001 World Series to the final game before Arizona won on a Game 7 walk-off.
Milwaukee, meanwhile, is one victory from a return to the World Series for the first time in 44 years. The Brewers last clinched a pennant in 1982 at County Stadium, in a game featuring future Hall of Famers Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson, Paul Molitor, Robin Yount and Ted Simmons. Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera and Milwaukee’s current mayor had not yet been born.
The road back has been long. Milwaukee did not even reach another playoff game for 26 years after that 1982 club. This year’s team set a franchise record with 103 victories, then pushed the two-time defending champions to the edge of elimination. One more win would send a generation of Brewers fans into a night they have spent decades imagining.
