Former Brewers pitcher leads Rays within one game of World Series

The Milwaukee Brewers could learn their opponent in the 2026 World Series as soon as tomorrow night.

The Tampa Bay Rays secured a 3-1 win over the host Cleveland Guardians on Oct. 18, giving the Rays a 3-2 lead in the American League Championship Series and putting them on the doorstep of a series win and third AL pennant. After wins on back-to-back days in Cleveland, the Rays now head home needing just a win in two games to earn a trip to Milwaukee.

Former Brewers pitcher Drew Rasmussen was nails again for the Rays, holding the Guardians to just one hit until the sixth inning. Rasmussen, who flirted with a no-hitter against the Yankees in the divisional series and had a strong start in Game 1 of this series before Cleveland rallied to win, allowed one earned run on four hits in seven innings, with a Chase DeLauter RBI groundout in the sixth accounting for the only Cleveland tally.

The Rays, meanwhile, scored single runs in each of the first three innings, with Jonny DeLuca drawing a bases-loaded walk in the first, Jonathan Aranda singling in a run in the second, and Liam Hicks adding an RBI single in the third.

Cleveland starter Parker Messick lasted just two innings, yielding five hits and two walks, with two earned runs and three strikeouts.

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The Rays will presumably turn to Freddy Peralta, Milwaukee’s 2025 ace, to try to seal up the series Monday night at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. Peralta, traded from the Brewers to the Mets in the offseason and then to the Rays at the trade deadline, threw six shutout innings in Game 2 and made a brief relief appearance in Game 4.

The series does not have an off day for travel because of a rainout Oct. 16 that pushed games into Oct. 18, originally slated as a series off-day.

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The winner of the series will arrive in Milwaukee for Game 1 of the World Series on Friday, Oct. 23. That means Rasmussen, the Rays ace who was traded in 2021 by the Brewers as part of the Willy Adames trade, would still be available to pitch in the opener on regular rest.

The Rays will host Cleveland for Game 6 of the American League Championship Series at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg at 7:08 p.m. CT Oct. 19. The Rays would win the series with a victory; otherwise Game 7 would take place Tuesday, Oct. 20, also at 7:08 p.m. at Tropicana Field.

The Rays have been to the World Series twice before, coincidentally losing to teams both times that had defeated the Brewers earlier in the postseason. That was the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008 and Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020. The Rays first played games in 1998 and have never won a World Series.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Former Brewers pitcher leads Rays within one game of World Series

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