ALCS Game 4 storylines as Rays, Guards bid to face Brewers in Fall Classic

The Brewers shocked the world on Thursday night, not only by reaching their first World Series since 1982, but doing it by sweeping the two-time defending champion Dodgers. Their reward -- other than, you know, hosting Game 1 of the World Series -- is getting to sit back and relax while the two teams in the ALCS pound on each other, for at least two more days, for the right to face them.

Game 4 of the AL Championship Series is Friday night, and if the Brewers get their way, the Guardians and Rays will play three more games after this. That will be more likely to happen if Tampa Bay, after losing Game 3 on Thursday, can even the series. If they can’t, then the AL’s No. 1 seed will be facing elimination, on the road, on Saturday.

Here then are three key questions for Friday’s ALCS Game 4.

ALCS Game 4: Rays at Guardians (CLE ahead 2-1)
8 p.m. ET, TBS/HBO Max
SP: Nick Martinez (TB) vs. TBA (CLE)

Can the Rays’ big bats get it going?

The Rays’ offense has been awfully quiet in this series, scoring no more than three runs in any of the three games. In a 3-2 Game 3 loss on Thursday, Rays hitters went a combined 3-for-30 with one walk and 13 strikeouts. A lot of these struggles are due to some fantastic Guardians pitching, of course. But if you’re looking for the anchor that’s truly dragging down the Rays’ offense, it’s the lack of production from their best players. Junior Caminero, Yandy Díaz and Jonathan Aranda, their three best hitters during the regular season, batting out of the top three spots in the lineup, are a combined 5-for-34 this series with one home run and RBI. Suffice it to say, that is not going to get it done.

Aranda doesn’t even have a single hit this series (0-for-10), and Caminero, who is probably going to finish in the top three in AL MVP voting, is very much not hitting like an MVP candidate. (He struck out in all four at-bats in Game 3.) The Guardians’ pitching has been so good that opportunities are going to be few and far between. But if the Rays’ big bats don’t start carrying the load like they did all season, they’re going to have a long offseason to think about it.

How do the Guardians match up their pitching?

The Guardians just got off a long, grueling series with the White Sox and went right into this series with the Rays, in which they used six pitchers in Game 1, four pitchers in Game 2, and five pitchers in Game 3. Their ace, Gavin Williams, started Game 3, and their star closer, Cade Smith, got the last four outs. Now, they have no clear or obvious fully rested starter for Game 4, which means that manager Stephen Vogt is going to have to mix and match and get creative.

Now, the Guardians are obviously used to that by now, but eventually these innings may start piling up. Smith, for example, has appeared in seven of the team’s eight playoff games, getting more than three outs in three of them. The Guardians still have the advantage, but in a series like this, everything’s always on the precipice. The last thing they want is to face Drew Rasmussen in Game 5 with the series tied and put even more strain on their top pitchers. Vogt is going to need to work some bullpen magic.

Will the Guardians keep finding unlikely heroes?

One couldn’t help but think of Tom Lawless on Thursday while watching Petey Halpin’s epic go-ahead homer for the Guardians in Game 3. Lawless, a utility infielder, had only three career homers but none bigger than the one he hit for the Cardinals in the 1987 World Series off the Twins’ Frank Viola, a shocking blast he punctuated with one of the most inexplicable bat flips of all time. (Our Matt Monagan wrote a wonderful piece about it back in 2023.)

Halpin’s homer went a lot further than Lawless’ did, and his bat flip went a lot higher too; I’m still not entirely sure it ever came down. Halpin’s homer really was in the grand tradition of postseason homers from unexpected places; Halpin, a rookie, slugged .326 in the regular season and is mainly in the lineup for his center field defense. And Halpin isn’t alone, either. Catcher Patrick Bailey, with his .339 career SLG, is slugging .609 this postseason, with big homers in both the ALDS and ALCS. The Guardians are not full of home run hitters in the first place, which means these unexpected heroes are going to have to keep popping up. Who’s the next one?