Overview
- Game 1 begins Monday, October 12, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg with Drew Rasmussen starting for the Rays and Foster Griffin taking the mound for the Guardians.
- Tampa Bay enters with a rest advantage after a 98–64 regular season and a 3–0 Division Series sweep of the New York Yankees, and it won five of six meetings with Cleveland during the regular season.
- Cleveland advanced after rallying from a 0–2 deficit to beat the Chicago White Sox in a 3–2 Division Series, carrying momentum into the ALCS and using Griffin for both relief success and a scheduled start.
- Jonathan Aranda of Tijuana is a focal offensive story for the Rays after a regular season with 22 home runs and 92 RBIs and a Division Series homer that supplied Tampa Bay’s Game 1 win over New York.
- Mexican viewers can watch Game 1 on ESPN or via streaming on Disney+ and MLB.TV, the ALCS follows a 2–3–2 home pattern and the World Series will begin on October 23 if one team reaches four wins.