NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 07: Junior Caminero #13 and Victor Mesa Jr. #25 of the Tampa Bay Rays celebrate after Game Three of the American League Division Series presented by Booking.com between the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stad
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Rays will begin their best of seven American League Championship Series against a Guardians riding in on little rest.
Tampa Bay enters the matchup after sweeping the New York Yankees in the Division Series. The Rays have had four days off since finishing that series Wednesday night, giving their pitching staff extra time to recover.
The team is now looking to reach the World Series for the third time in franchise history.
First they’ll need to beat a Cleveland team that has already proven it can survive under pressure.
Tampa Bay pitching matchup
By the numbers:
Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen gets the ball for Game 1 after delivering a dominant performance against the Yankees. He took a no-hit bid into the eighth inning and finished with 10 strikeouts in a 1-0 Tampa Bay victory on October 3.
Rasmussen finished the regular season 16-5 with a 2.67 ERA and an American League best 0.91 WHIP. He has also benefited from the extra rest after Tampa Bay wrapped up its Division Series in three games.
Cleveland will counter with left-hander Foster Griffin, who joined the Guardians at the trade deadline after pitching for the Washington Nationals and spending three seasons in Japan.
Griffin went 3-3 with a 5.19 ERA in nine starts for Cleveland. He made an impact in relief during Game 3 against the White Sox, striking out seven and allowing one run over 2 2/3 innings.
The other side:
The Guardians are coming off a much more demanding Division Series.
Cleveland fell behind Chicago two games to none before winning three straight elimination games to advance. The Guardians clinched the series with a 2-0 victory Saturday night, setting a major league postseason record with 21 strikeouts in the game.
According to ESPN, Cleveland players celebrated late into the night and into Sunday morning after completing the comeback.
The Guardians have had significantly less recovery time than Tampa Bay, and their pitching staff has been heavily used. Cleveland is counting on Griffin to give the team a strong start as it tries to carry that momentum into the ALCS and rest up their top arms.
Dig deeper:
While the Rays and Guardians have different postseason paths, the teams share a similar approach to the game.
Both emphasize contact hitting, speed on the bases, strong fundamentals and pitching rather than relying exclusively on home runs.
Tampa Bay led the American League with a .258 batting average during the regular season and struck out fewer times than any other team in the majors. Cleveland hit .239 and ranked among the league’s more disciplined teams at the plate.
The Rays won five of the six regular season meetings between the teams.
Game day details
What you can do:
First pitch is scheduled for 8 p.m. Monday at Tropicana Field. Gates open at 5 p.m. for batting practice, and parking lots open at 3 p.m.
A limited number of tickets were still available as of Monday morning, but the parking lots were sold out. Fans heading to the game should plan ahead for offsite parking and transportation.
The game will be televised nationally on TBS and UniMas and streamed on truTV, and HBO Max.
World Series title chase
Why you should care:
The Rays are four wins away from a chance to capture the franchise’s first World Series title. Starting the series at home with a rested Rasmussen gives Tampa Bay an opportunity to take early control.
Cleveland meanwhile has not claimed a World Series title since 1948.
The Source: The Associated Press provided reporting on the Rays and Guardians’ regular season performances, the Division Series results and the Game 1 pitching matchup. Major League Baseball provided additional information about the starting pitchers and postseason schedule. Ticket availability and stadium logistics are provided by MLB.