Yandy Díaz, Rays Beat Guardians to Win AL Pennant

Yandy Díaz called it, and then he crushed it. A day after saying "It all ends tomorrow. We're going to win tomorrow," Díaz hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning to put away the Guardians as the Tampa Bay Rays won Game 6 of the ALCS 7-3 on Monday night at Tropicana Field and clinched the American League pennant.

Tampa Bay took the series 4-2 and is headed to the World Series for the third time in franchise history, after 2008 and 2020. It happened 18 years to the day after the first one: the Rays clinched their first pennant on Oct. 19, 2008.

How the Rays closed it out

Richie Palacios got it going in the second inning with a two-run double into the right-center gap off lefty Tim Herrin. The Rays added a run in the third, and Freddy Peralta did the rest early, giving up one run on five hits over 5 1/3 innings. He was named ALCS MVP after also throwing six scoreless innings to win Game 2.

Junior Caminero made it 5-1 in the seventh with a two-run shot off the left-field foul pole against All-Star closer Cade Smith. It was his first career postseason homer after 42 in the regular season, and he pointed to Randy Arozarena behind home plate before he touched it.

Cleveland didn't go quietly. The Guardians loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth, and Ian Seymour walked Patrick Bailey and hit Angel Martínez to force in two runs. With the go-ahead run at first, Kevin Kelly struck out Brayan Rocchio on three changeups to leave it at 5-3.

Yandy Díaz finishes the job

In the bottom half, Díaz hit a Hunter Gaddis changeup 416 feet to left at 111.9 mph, the second-hardest-hit postseason homer by a Rays player in the Statcast era, per MLB.com. The sellout crowd of 40,230 chanted his name until he came out for a curtain call. Closer Bryan Baker was on the mound when it ended.

There's a twist to it, too. The Guardians are the team that first signed Díaz as an amateur in 2013. The Rays got him in a three-team trade before the 2019 season, and he has since won a batting title (.330 in 2023) and led the AL with 180 hits this year.

"It feels like I'm on top of the world," Díaz said through interpreter Kevin Vera. "I'm really glad he backed it up, that's for sure," Kevin Cash said of the prediction.

Rays vs. Brewers: somebody's first title

The World Series is guaranteed to crown a first-time champion. Neither the Rays nor the Brewers has ever won it, and per the AP it is the first matchup of two teams both chasing a first title since the Phillies and Royals in 1980. Milwaukee won a franchise-record 103 games and swept the Dodgers in the NLCS. Cleveland's drought now reaches 78 years.

Game 1 is Friday at 8 p.m. ET on FOX at American Family Field in Milwaukee. Drew Rasmussen is the likely Rays starter against Jacob Misiorowski, and both Rasmussen and Peralta get a shot at their old team.

Asked about the Brewers, Díaz had one more prediction: "It's going to be a great series, but we're winning."