ST. PETERSBURG -- The American League’s top two seeds will meet in the best-of-seven AL Championship Series, starting with Game 1 on Monday night between the Guardians and Rays at 8 p.m. ET at Tropicana Field.
Let’s take a look at how the pitching rotations might line up between the AL Central champion Guardians and AL East-winning Rays:
GUARDIANS
By winning the Central and earning a first-round bye in the postseason, the Guardians could align their rotation as they liked for the AL Division Series. They have no such benefit in the ALCS, on the heels of a taxing five-game set against the White Sox. Cleveland arrived in St. Petersburg on Sunday for its off-day workout ahead of Game 1 on Monday.
The Guardians used just three starters (Parker Messick, Gavin Williams and opener Daniel Espino) in the ALDS. With four games scheduled in five days this week, they will need at least a quartet of pitchers in the ALCS. Here’s how it could look through Game 3.
Game 1
Foster Griffin, LHP
The Guardians hoped Griffin would loom large in the postseason when they acquired him from the Nationals on Aug. 3. The lefty has a big opportunity ahead of him after manager Stephen Vogt named him the Game 1 starter on Sunday.
Monday will mark Griffin’s first start since his final regular-season outing on Sept. 23, when he allowed one run on 10 hits with seven strikeouts at Fenway Park against the Red Sox. He worked out of the bullpen in the ALDS, and his lone appearance (2 2/3 innings, one run, seven strikeouts) was crucial to the Guardians’ 9-3 win in Game 3.
Griffin had an up-and-down stretch with the Guardians after the Deadline, recording a 5.19 ERA in 43 1/3 innings over nine starts. But he was an All-Star with Washington this season (3.06 ERA in 129 1/3 innings over 22 starts). Cleveland is hopeful he will provide needed length after its bullpen had a heavy workload in the ALDS.
Game 2
TBA, potentially LHP Parker Messick
Vogt was not ready to announce rotation plans beyond Griffin. The Guardians first want to see how guys are feeling physically in the coming days. Their options are between Messick, Tanner Bibee, Joey Cantillo or Espino as an opener.
Messick would be on normal rest on Tuesday, though he labored in his Game 4 start against the White Sox last week, when he threw 65 pitches over 2 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on two hits and four walks. The rookie has thrown 193 innings between the regular season and playoffs, well above his previous career high (138 1/3 between the Majors and Minors in 2025).
Perhaps the Guardians could choose to give Messick an extra day or two of rest before his next start. But if he feels strong entering this series, he’s a no-brainer choice for Game 2 after emerging as an AL Cy Young Award contender this season.
Game 3
TBA, likely RHP Gavin Williams
Williams would be on normal rest on Thursday. Put another way, he’d have three more days between outings than he did on Saturday, when he tied Cleveland’s postseason franchise record in strikeouts (12) in Game 5 of the ALDS. That start (which led the Guards to a 2-0 series-clinching win over the White Sox) came two days after his emergency relief appearance in Game 4. Is anyone going to bet against the big right-hander being ready for Thursday, when this series returns to Cleveland?
RAYS
The ALDS provided a blueprint for the Rays to follow in the ALCS, in terms of how they leaned on the five members of their season-ending rotation to handle most of the innings, but the schedule for this round gives them a little less flexibility. That means they will likely roll with a four-man rotation and leave the other starter in the bullpen, with the potential for someone to work in relief before slotting back into a starting role later in the series.
Here’s one look at how it could play out:
Game 1
Drew Rasmussen, RHP
This was, again, an easy call for the Rays. Rasmussen is their ace, and they have not lost one of his starts since the All-Star Game. He was arguably as good as he’s ever been in his final regular-season start against the Yankees, then he was even better as he carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning of Game 1 of the ALDS at Tropicana Field. Can he keep that up against the Guardians?
Game 2
TBA, likely RHP Freddy Peralta
The Rays haven’t yet set their rotation beyond Rasmussen, but it seems likely they will turn to Peralta again at Tropicana Field before the series shifts to Cleveland. Peralta has been on an excellent run since joining the Rays in a Deadline deal with the Mets, which has fully restored his confidence after a shaky start to the season. The intensity level of the postseason was evident in the additional velocity on Fastball Freddy’s heater against the Yankees, which should bode well for him whenever he takes the mound in this series.
Game 3
TBA, possibly RHP Nick Martinez
Martinez got the nod in Game 3 of the ALDS, which made sense given his veteran presence, the Rays’ success behind him all season and his otherworldly performance on the road this year. Tampa Bay had Seymour and Jax ready to go behind him, plus a fully rested bullpen, but he gave them a chance to win by only permitting two runs over 3 2/3 innings. Whoever starts this game will benefit from pitching after the off-day, but it is the beginning of the series’ lone three-game stretch without a scheduled day off.