The Cleveland Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays open the 2026 American League Championship Series (ALCS) at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. at 8 p.m. ET. The game can be viewed or streamed on TBS and truTV.
Cleveland rallied from an 0-2 series hole against the Chicago White Sox in a scintillating ALDS, winning two games on the road at Rate Field, before vanquishing their division rivals at Progressive Field in Game 5 on Saturday, winning 2-0.
The Guardians pitching allowed 15 total runs, or 3.0 runs per game (RPG), in the five postseason games so far. And, after managing just 1.5 RPG in the first two losses at home, the offense came alive in the final three games, erupting for 6.7 RPG in the victories.
The Rays have been idle since Wednesday after polishing off the New York Yankees in a three-game sweep in their ALDS series. Two of the three victories were one-run games, as Tampa Bay scored five or fewer runs in the series, averaging just 3.4 RPG, but allowing only 1.7 RPG. The Rays pitching staff was top-notch, as it has been for most of the season.
Tampa Bay won the AL East Division title over the more high-salaried teams like the Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox and, even the Baltimore Orioles, by relying on timely hitting, solid pitching and hungry players.
In fact, this game features the Guardians, with a roughly a $74.5 million total salary, lowest in MLB, against the Rays, with around a $95.6 million total salary, ranking third-lowest in baseball. A lot of the people against a salary cap, for whatever reason, will point to this series saying that the current system works.
Cleveland turns to LHP Foster Griffin as its Game 1 starter, while Tampa Bay counters with RHP Drew Rasmussen.
Griffin was acquired at the MLB non-waiver trade deadline from the Washington Nationals, and he was decent in his only playoff appearance so far, allowing one run and two hits with seven strikeouts in his eight outs recorded in Game 3 in Chicago on Wednesday.
The last time, and only time in his career, that Griffin faced the Rays was in relief on Sept. 22, 2022, in his one and only appearance with the Blue Jays.
Rasmussen (16-5, 2.67 ERA, 0.91 WHIP) has been electric all season, and he might not be well known to the casual fan, but he can deal. And, in Game 1 at Tropicana Field against the Yankees, he allowed just one hit and two walks with 10 strikeouts in eight scoreless innings to help set the tone for the ALDS.
Rasmussen was 1-1 with a 1.50 ERA with 15 strikeouts across 12 IP in two regular-season outings against the Guardians.
The best bet is to go UNDER 6.5 (+100) at even-money, even though that’s a low number. And, we’ll back the RAYS (-164) as moderate favorites under the roof in Game 1 at home.
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