ST. PETERSBURG — The Tampa Bay Rays are going to the World Series, and this time the Fall Classic is coming to Tropicana Field.
The Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night in front of a sellout crowd of 40,230, closing out the series 4-2 and winning the third pennant in the franchise's 29 seasons. They open the World Series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday in Milwaukee, then come home for Games 3, 4 and, if needed, 5 from Oct. 26 to 28.
Those will be the first World Series games played in St. Petersburg since 2008. The Rays' 2020 World Series against the Dodgers was held at a neutral site in Arlington, Texas, because of the pandemic.
How the Rays closed it out
Yandy Díaz said after Game 5 that the Rays would win Game 6, and he made sure of it. With Tampa Bay up 5-3 in the bottom of the eighth, Díaz hit a two-run homer to left off Cleveland reliever Hunter Gaddis to restore a four-run cushion, The Associated Press reported.
“Yandy had a claim to back and he did his part,” Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander said, according to the AP. “That was unbelievable.”
Richie Palacios put the Rays ahead with a two-run double in the second inning, and Jonny DeLuca added a sacrifice fly in the third, according to ESPN's box score. Junior Caminero's two-run homer in the seventh made it 5-1 before Cleveland scratched across two runs in the eighth on a bases-loaded walk and a hit batter. Closer Bryan Baker finished it.
Freddy Peralta, who threw six scoreless innings in Game 2, gave the Rays 5⅓ innings and allowed one run. He was named ALCS MVP, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
“We got one more bite!” manager Kevin Cash told his players as the clubhouse celebration started, the AP reported. Out on the field, Caminero grabbed a microphone and shouted to the crowd, “This is for you!”
The Rays won the pennant on the 18th anniversary of their first one, clinched against Boston on Oct. 19, 2008. They had trailed this series 1-0 and 2-1 before winning three straight:
- Game 1: Guardians 7, Rays 3
- Game 2: Rays 3, Guardians 1
- Game 3: Guardians 3, Rays 2
- Game 4: Rays 7, Guardians 3
- Game 5: Rays 3, Guardians 1
- Game 6: Rays 7, Guardians 3
World Series schedule
Every game starts at 8 p.m. Eastern and airs on FOX and FOX Deportes, with streaming on FOX One, according to MLB's World Series guide. Milwaukee has home-field advantage after finishing with the majors' best record.
- Game 1: Friday, Oct. 23, Rays at Brewers
- Game 2: Saturday, Oct. 24, Rays at Brewers
- Game 3: Monday, Oct. 26, Brewers at Rays (Tropicana Field)
- Game 4: Tuesday, Oct. 27, Brewers at Rays (Tropicana Field)
- Game 5*: Wednesday, Oct. 28, Brewers at Rays (Tropicana Field)
- Game 6*: Friday, Oct. 30, Rays at Brewers
- Game 7*: Saturday, Oct. 31, Rays at Brewers
*If necessary
Who the Rays are facing
The Brewers won a franchise-record 103 games, beat San Diego in the Division Series and swept the defending champion Dodgers in the NL Championship Series. They also took two of three from the Rays in Milwaukee's second series of the season, March 30 to April 1, according to MLB.com.
One of them will be a first-time champion. It's the first World Series between two franchises that have never won a title since Philadelphia beat Kansas City in 1980, and the Brewers' only previous trip was in 1982. The AP also noted it could be the first World Series played entirely under a roof, with the Trop's dome and Milwaukee's retractable roof at American Family Field.
The pitching matchup has a Milwaukee twist. MLB.com expects Drew Rasmussen, who was drafted by the Brewers and traded to Tampa Bay five years ago, to start Game 1 on regular rest. He is 11-0 with a 1.73 ERA in 15 starts since the All-Star break. Peralta, another former Brewer, would line up for Game 2. Milwaukee is starting Jacob Misiorowski, who led the majors in ERA (1.80) and strikeouts (252) during the regular season.
Tickets and parking for the Trop games
The Rays' postseason tickets page lists Games 3, 4 and 5, each with links to buy tickets and parking. As of Tuesday morning, the team's Game 3 page showed tickets as limited. SeatGeek is the Rays' official resale marketplace.
Plan on buying parking ahead of time. During the ALCS, the Rays sold postseason parking in advance only, with no parking sold at the gate; check the team's Tropicana Field parking page for World Series details. The SunRunner stops on the north side of the stadium, and the city of St. Petersburg has run a free downtown Baseball Shuttle for playoff games.
Watching Games 1 and 2
The Rays host official watch parties when the team is on the road, with games and giveaways, according to the team's watch party page. As of Tuesday morning, the team had not posted World Series watch party details. The Trop hosted a watch party for ALCS Game 5 in Cleveland. The team's Bar League page lists participating bars around the bay.
The bigger picture
It has been a long road back to the Trop. Hurricane Milton tore the stadium's roof in October 2024, and the Rays played their 2025 home games at the Yankees' spring training ballpark in Tampa. They returned to St. Petersburg this season under new ownership and won 55 home games, a total matched only by Milwaukee. A new ballpark in Tampa is targeted for 2029, and Tampa City Council narrowly advanced the city's stadium bond plan last week.
Cash said the crowd for Game 6 might have topped even the Division Series opener, which he called the best crowd he'd ever heard. “Excited to see what those 40,000 people can bring on Games 3, 4 and 5, for sure,” he said, according to the AP.