The Rays are going back to the World Series, and the trip was sealed in front of a Tropicana Field crowd that finally got the October night it had been waiting for. Tampa Bay beat Cleveland 7-3 in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Monday, claiming the AL pennant and moving within four wins of the first championship in franchise history.
It came 18 years to the day after the club reached its first World Series on Oct. 19, 2008. This will be Tampa Bay’s third Fall Classic appearance, following 2008 and 2020, but the feeling around the clubhouse was different: this one was earned in a packed home park with the building shaking.
Quick facts
- Tampa Bay won Game 6 of the ALCS, 7-3, over the Guardians.
- The Rays will meet the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2026 World Series.
- Game 1 is Friday at 8 p.m. ET at American Family Field in Milwaukee, airing on FOX, FOX Deportes and FOX One.
- Freddy Peralta was named ALCS MVP after allowing one run in 5 1/3 innings in the clincher.
- Both the Rays and Brewers are seeking their first World Series title.
Junior Caminero supplied the signature swing. His two-run homer in the seventh inning clipped the left-field foul pole, and the ballpark erupted. Caminero paused near first base to face the Rays’ dugout, then stopped again just before home to point toward former Tampa Bay standout Randy Arozarena behind the plate.
Caminero and Arozarena shared Arozarena’s familiar arms-crossed pose as the celebration rolled on. For Caminero, the moment carried the weight of his family, his city and his Dominican roots.
“I feel like crying because I have worked so hard for this club and this city,” Caminero said. “My family is out there — my wife, my mother, my father, my little brother, my daughter Valentina. I’m so happy. This is for the Dominican Republic.”
Earlier, Richie Palacios gave Tampa Bay its first major jolt with a two-run double in the second. He entered the at-bat against left-hander Tim Herrin with a .158 average and .478 OPS versus left-handed pitching in 2026, then battled through uncomfortable early pitches before driving the ball into the right-center gap.
Palacios raced into second as his helmet came off, turned toward the dugout and let out a roar. It was the kind of hard-edged at-bat that has defined this Rays club all season.
Yandy Díaz made sure Cleveland’s late push did not grow legs. After the Guardians created some pressure in the top of the eighth, Díaz opened the bottom half with a two-run homer to left. The crowd answered with repeated chants of his name until he came back out for a curtain call.
“It feels like I’m at the top of the world,” Díaz said through interpreter Kevin Vera. “Hopefully this time, we can win it.”
The pitching set the tone again. Peralta followed his six shutout innings in the Game 2 victory by holding Cleveland to one run through 5 1/3 innings in Game 6. The Guardians opened with a bullpen arrangement led by Shawn Armstrong, but their offense never found the sustained surge it needed.
Peralta, still smiling long after the final out, took home the ALCS MVP award. “This is unbelievable,” he said. “I think I need to get home and look at it and really think about it. I’m still shocked. I can’t believe it.”
Tampa Bay’s formula was all over the series: Chandler Simpson’s speed, Taylor Walls’ defense and a pitching staff capable of shutting down a hot lineup. Cleveland arrived with José Ramírez leading an offense that had surged late in the year and through the postseason, but the Rays kept taking away openings.
Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan gave Tampa Bay full credit afterward. “They played better defense, hit better and pitched better,” Kwan said. “We didn’t beat ourselves. They beat us. It hurts, but that’s a great team.”
Cleveland’s season still featured a memorable comeback against the White Sox in the ALDS, and its foundation remains sturdy. Ramírez remains the franchise centerpiece, rookie Chase DeLauter has emerged as one of the league’s promising young outfielders, and the pitching group includes Gavin Williams, Parker Messick and closer Cade Smith.
But Cleveland’s championship wait now reaches 78 years. The club last won the World Series in 1948 and has reached the Fall Classic four times since — 1954, 1995, 1997 and 2016 — without finishing the job.
Now the Rays head to Milwaukee, where the Brewers have been waiting since completing their NLCS sweep of the two-time defending champion Dodgers on Oct. 15. Milwaukee, which entered Major League Baseball in 1969 as the Seattle Pilots, also has never won a World Series.
The Brewers will carry eight days of rest into Game 1. Tampa Bay will bring momentum, noise and a group Kevin Cash calls relentlessly competitive.
“They have been a complete joy to be around all year,” Cash said. “They are very motivated. People may say there are no Hall of Famers in that room right now — maybe there will be someday — but there are a lot of gamers in there. We’re excited to get to Milwaukee.”
Cash also remembered the Rays’ 2020 World Series run, played at Arlington’s Globe Life Field during the pandemic with limited attendance. This time, the Rays have a true home crowd waiting for Games 3, 4 and 5.
“That 2020 season was as special as any I’ve been part of,” Cash said. “But we didn’t have 40,000 people behind us. I’m excited to see what those people can bring for Games 3, 4 and 5. The ALDS Game 1 crowd was the loudest I had heard, but this crowd may have topped it.”
For one night, Tampa Bay had the room, the stage and the American League trophy. Next comes Milwaukee, a first-time champion waiting at the end of the road, and a Rays club that has turned its October dream into a real shot at history.
