As the 2026 MLB Trade Deadline came and went, the Tampa Bay Rays finally became full fledged buyers. Erik Neander went out and brought the Rays an excellent catcher in Liam Hicks, a decent option in the bullpen with Tyler Wells, and then a possible top of the rotation arm in Freddy Peralta.
Of course, Peralta had his struggles while with the New York Mets but was just a half season removed from being a Cy Young contender with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Now, with the Rays on the cusp of reaching the World Series, it will be Freddy Peralta taking the mound for Tampa Bay.
A few days ago, this series was all but wrapped up for the Cleveland Guardians as they held a 2-1 advantage with two more games remaining at home. Then the rains came and washed out what would have been game four on Friday. With the schedule pushed back and extra day to recombobulate, the dormant Rays offense awoke while the pitching continued its excellence and all of a sudden, the Rays have a 3-2 advantage as the ALCS returns back to Tropicana Field where the Rays held one of the best home records in all of baseball.
The Guardians will have to try and piece together a pitching strategy as manager Stephen Vogt has heavily relied on his top relievers all series, making them questionable for tonight's game. It has been announced that Cleveland will be starting former Ray, Shawn Armstrong, once again. Armstrong started Saturday's game, providing the Guardians with four outs as an opener. This will mark his 4th appearance of the ALCS and thus far he has recorded 4 innings, allowing 0 runs on 2 hits.
After Armstrong, it's anyone's guess as to who Vogt will turn to in a must win game.
Vogt does have options with Tanner Bibee being the most likely. The 27-year old right-handed pitcher has yet to pitch in the ALCS and made one appearance during the ALDS against the Chicago White Sox. Bibee had a solid regular season for Cleveland and was a modern day workhorse as he compiled a 4.36 ERA | 4.52 FIP with a 19.0 K% & 7.1 BB% over 188 IP. Other options for Vogt tonight include Joey Cantillo, Matt Festa, and Slade Cecconi.
The rest of Vogt's staff has seen plenty of action this ALCS, but it has been reported that game three starter Gavin Williams will be the only pitcher not available to pitch in tonight's game. However, Vogt called upon Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, Erik Sabrowski, and Tim Herrin in yesterday's game as well as Shawn Armstrong, making them questionable for action tonight.
Tampa Bay meanwhile benefited from an exceptional outing by Drew Rasmussen in which the ace of the staff logged seven innings, yielding just one run, en route to the Rays 3-1 game five victory. Still, Kevin Cash had to call upon Bryan Baker, Cam Booser, and Tyler Wells to finish out the game; Wells threw just five pitches and was well rested prior to the game. Bryan Baker and Cam Booser pitched consecutive games so they may not be available tonight either; Baker also had had a noticeable dip in his velocity. Still, Kevin Cash has plenty of options should he need to use them in Kevin Kelly, Tyler Wells, Cole Sulser, Steven Matz, and Brody Hopkins; Hopkins has yet to appear in an ALCS game, the lone player on the roster who has yet to make an appearance.
It's game six of the 2026 American League Division Series. The Rays are up three games to two. The series is back at Tropicana Field. BJ Upton is throwing out the ceremonial first pitch. The game begins at 8:00pm.
