Updated MLB Playoff Bracket Picture 2026 After Rays Beat Guardians to Advance to World Series

There will be a first-time World Series champion this year.

The Tampa Bay Rays clinched their spot in the Fall Classic on Monday with a 7-3 victory over the Cleveland Guardians in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series.

As a result, they will face the Milwaukee Brewers after the National League representative swept the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Neither Milwaukee nor Tampa Bay has won a World Series in franchise history, which will be quite a change after Dodgers won their eighth and ninth all-time titles the previous two years.

The Brewers will be well-rested, as they finished their sweep of the Dodgers on Thursday. With Game 1 of the World Series scheduled for Friday, they will be more than a week removed from their last contest.

Tampa Bay, on the other hand, needed six games to defeat the Guardians.

It enters the Fall Classic with plenty of momentum of its own with three straight wins after falling behind 2-1, the last of which featured some late drama despite the final score indicating otherwise.

Cleveland scored two runs in the eighth inning when Patrick Bailey walked and Angel Martínez was hit by a pitch, both with the bases loaded against Ian Seymour.

But Kevin Kelly saved the day for the Rays by coming in for Seymour and striking out Brayan Rocchio with the bases still filled.

Tampa Bay also had enough breathing room to survive the late scare in large part because of Junior Caminero's two-run homer in the seventh inning. Richie Palacios also provided the initial scoring with a two-run double in the second, and Jonny DeLuca added another with a sacrifice fly in the third.

That was far from it, though, as Yandy Díaz allowed the home fans to exhale with a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth after Cleveland cut the deficit to two.

Now the Rays will look to do what previous iterations of the team were unable to after winning the American League pennant.

The 2008 Rays lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series, while the 2020 version fell to the Dodgers on the same stage.

If this year's team is going to break through, it will have to figure out a way to defeat a Brewers squad that finished with a league-best 103 wins and is playing with no shortage of momentum after eliminating the back-to-back champions.