The Cleveland Guardians pulled off an improbable comeback to advance to the ALCS, and their reward is facing off with the best team in the American League.
The Tampa Bay Rays are well rested after an ALDS sweep, and they were just waiting at Tropicana Field for whoever advanced from that Guardians-White Sox series.
On Monday night, they’ll get things rolling in the best-of-seven ALCS.
Guardians-Rays Game Today: When, Where
The Cleveland Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays will play the first game of the ALCS on Monday, Oct. 12.
It’ll be played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, the home of the Rays. “The Trop” has a dome roof and won’t be impacted by the elements, although baseballs in play do occasionally hit the catwalks that are just inside the roof, so it’s an added feature of the action.
First pitch is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.
Guardians Probable Pitcher
The Guardians announced that the left-handed Foster Griffin will start Game 1 of the ALCS.
Griffin was acquired before the trade deadline from the Washington Nationals. He was an All-Star for the Nats before the trade.
The soft-tossing lefty had been out of MLB for the past few seasons as he pitched in Asia and improved his game, but he came back this year a better pitcher than he had ever been stateside before.
Cleveland used Griffin out of the bullpen in the ALDS, but he gets the start with Parker Messick and Gavin Williams both still recharging from their outings in Games 4 and 5 of the last round.
Rays Probable Pitcher
The Rays are slated to start Drew Rasmussen.
If that name sounds familiar, it’s because you likely know what he did in the last round.
Rasmussen’s start in the ALDS against the New York Yankees featured eight one-hit innings. The only hit he allowed came with two outs in the eighth, but the Rays threw out Yankees catcher Austin Wells trying to stretch a double into a triple, and so even the hit Rasmussen gave up didn’t stay out there for long.
The Rays won that game just 1-0, with closer Bryan Baker pitching the ninth after Rasmussen’s eight strong innings.
Rays’ Time Off
The one thing to watch will be if time off impacted the Rays. They haven’t played since Wednesday, Oct. 7, while the Guardians were playing through Saturday, Oct. 10.
The Rays did have a first-round playoff bye, though, and that didn’t stop them from sweeping the Yankees, so it seems like they probably have the right routine in place to handle such a schedule.
Guardians-Rays Game Today: Probable Pitchers, Schedule for ALCS Game 1