The Tampa Bay Rays are going to the World Series for the third time in franchise history, staying true to themselves every step of the way.
They’re an odd franchise, these Rays, hailing from an area where bodies of water and gridlocked bridges make it difficult to see a game, where the antiquated building they play their games has charming quirks but not enough cash flow.
They cast a critical eye toward your organization, perusing every bit of it before deciding which asset you don’t value enough and they strike, like a toddler meticulously picking out the favorite parts of a meal they like.
And then they put it all together and see how it plays.
Some years, that means a nondescript record hovering somewhere around .500. Others, it produces major
league wins by the dozens, but a punchless, predictable playoff flameout.
Every so often, though, it all clicks: A lineup that swings smartly and rarely misses. A pitching staff both precise and powerful, backed by a defense that can run down balls in any corner or turn infield defense on its ear with equal parts grace and grit.
That all coalesced in beautiful fashion Monday, Oct. 19, when the Rays registered a 7-3 victory over the Cleveland Guardians in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series.
They prevailed over their low-revenue brethren in this ALCS, 4-2, and return to the World Series since losing a six-game battle against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2020 COVID-19 bubble. Game 1 against the Milwaukee Brewers - also seeking their first World Series title, in their first trip since 1982 - is Friday night at American Family Field.
And then Tropicana Field will see its first World Series since 2008, when the Rays lost in five games to the Philadelphia Phillies, a watershed year for an organization that changed its fortunes in a hurry under progressive general manager Andrew Friedman and manager Joe Maddon.
Now, it is president of baseball operations Erik Neander and manager Kevin Cash assembling the pieces and pushing the buttons, but the ethos remains: To assemble parts from all over the industry, teach them to gain every edge on the margins just like the processes that brought them to Tampa Bay, until breaking the opponent’s will.
Game 6 was a fine example. After all, six of the Rays’ seven runs were driven in by former Guardians, with another Cleveland draftee saving the day in a white-knuckle eighth-inning.
In the bottom of the second, it was Richie Palacios, drafted by Cleveland in 2018 and on his third team when the Rays acquired him to hold down second base against right-handed pitchers. In this spot, the gassed and desperate Guardians running a bullpen game, he was faced with a left-on-left situation against reliever Tim Herrin.
Palacios barely checked his swing on one offering. Barely fouled off a pitch nearly by him before his emergency hack caught a little wood. Until finally, he fluttered a slider into the gap in right center field for a two-run double and 2-0 lead.
The key insurance came from Junior Caminero, who like leadoff slugger Yandy Díaz was acquired in a trade with Cleveland. He hit 87 home runs the past two seasons but zero in 35 career plate appearances entering Game 6.
This time, though, with dominant Guardians reliever Cade Smith on the mound in the seventh, Caminero got a first-pitch splitter. Smith had never given up a home run the first 880 times he threw one in the big leagues.
In this spot, though, Smith left it up on the inner half and Caminero clubbed it, drilling it sharply down the left field line and clanging it off the foul pole for some crucial breathing room and a 5-1 lead.
The moment was flush with Rays history, such as it is.
Caminero’s homer drilled the pole in the exact spot they like to call Longo’s Landing, where franchise icon Evan Longoria’s 2011 home run that sent Tampa Bay to the playoffs walked off the Yankees in Game 162.
And when Caminero finished his adrenaline-fueled sojourn around the bases and touched home plate, he turned to the seats behind the screen and caught the eye of All-Star Randy Arozarena, whose historic 2020 playoff power binge nearly delivered Tampa Bay a title.
Arozarena and 2020 teammate Tyler Glasnow are no longer Rays, but they came back to watch this one. Why not, when the vibes are this good? Caminero struck Arozarena’s arms-crossed pose as he grinned devilishly at his old teammate.
In between, New York Mets discard Freddy Peralta powered into the sixth inning, giving up just one run and earning his second victory of the season to earn ALCS MVP honors. Cam Booser, the lefty who battled addiction to reach the major leagues only for Boston to turn him loose, followed Peralta.
With the tying run at the plate, Booser got a flyout from Travis Bazzana and a pop fly from Patrick Bailey to escape the sixth. It all nearly fell apart in the eighth when the other lefty reliever, Ian Seymour, walked Bailey and hit Angel Martinez with the bases loaded, trimming a four-run lead in half to 5-3.
There were two more Cleveland cast-offs left, though. Reliever Kevin Kelly, a 19th-round pick by Cleveland in 2019, was waived by the Guardians in 2022 and then purchased for cash by the Rays.
Like so many Rays, he was unlocked by pitching coach Kyle Snyder, who turned him into a sterling set-up man. And on this night, bases loaded, two-run game, four outs from the World Series, he needed just three pitches to strike out Brayan Rocchio, who flailed at a changeup that floated in the dirt.
Díaz then provided the poetic capper, one evening after saying, via an interpreter, that the ALCS "ends tomorrow."
He backed up his words, pounding a two-run homer off Evan Gaddis well over the fence in left field for a 7-3 lead. When Bryan Baker retired the side in the ninth, the party was on in St. Pete.
Don’t look now, but the Rays have been to the World Series one more time than the Yankees since 2008.
It always looks a little funny. It may not work out perfectly. But that AL champion pennant will look pretty in the Trop, with four more wins needed for the flag they want most.
2026 World Series schedule
- Game 1: Friday, October 23 — 8:00 PM ET, at Milwaukee – TICKETS
- Game 2: Saturday, October 24 — 8:00 PM ET, at Milwaukee – TICKETS
- Game 3: Monday, October 26 — 8:00 PM ET, at Tampa Bay
- Game 4: Tuesday, October 27 — 8:00 PM ET, at Tampa Bay
- Game 5 (if necessary): Wednesday, October 28 — 8:00 PM ET
- Game 6 (if necessary): Friday, October 30 — 8:00 PM ET, at Milwaukee – TICKETS
- Game 7 (if necessary): Saturday, October 31 — 8:00 PM ET, at Milwaukee – TICKETS
World Series odds
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Rays will always do it their way. It's led them to another World Series
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