ALCS Is Set: Guardians Battle Back to Face Rays for the Pennant

The American League Championship Series matchup is finally complete: the Cleveland Guardians will face the Tampa Bay Rays, with Game 1 set for Monday night in St. Petersburg.

Cleveland sealed its trip Saturday night, rallying from a 2-0 series deficit to beat the Chicago White Sox in five games and win the winner-take-all ALDS finale. The Guardians' comeback sets up a best-of-seven date with a well-rested Tampa Bay club that swept the New York Yankees in three games after earning an automatic berth into the division series.

The series opens Monday, October 12, at 8 p.m. ET at Tropicana Field, with Games 1 and 2 in St. Petersburg before shifting to Progressive Field in Cleveland for Games 3 through 5. Every game airs nationally on TBS and truTV, with streaming on HBO Max. Brian Anderson and Ron Darling will call the series for TNT Sports.

It is the third postseason meeting between the two franchises. The Rays won their 2013 matchup; the Guardians swept the 2022 series. This time the stakes are the American League pennant and a trip to the World Series, which begins Friday, October 23, on FOX.

Tampa Bay carries the edge in rest and home-field advantage, while Cleveland brings momentum from surviving a do-or-die Game 5 on the road. The Rays' pitching staff, fresh after the sweep, will be tested by a Guardians lineup that found its swing just in time — scoring its way out of an 0-2 hole with back-to-back elimination-game wins.

The winner advances to face the National League champion — either the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Milwaukee Brewers, whose NLCS began Sunday night — with a championship on the line.

Sources: NBC Sports, Sportsnet, Awful Announcing.