Cleveland Guardians (2) at Tampa Bay Rays (1), 8:08 PM ET

TBR: Freddy Peralta (10-11, 4.42 ERA, 108 DRA-)
CLE: Bob Feller (262-166, 3.25 ERA, ??? DRA-)

Freddy Peralta gets the ball in Game 6 with an opportunity to win the ALCS MVP. He threw six shutout innings and earned a win in Game 2, allowing four hits, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch while striking out six. Then he entered Game Four in relief in the sixth inning with a runner on first and one out, and got a couple of flyouts bookending a walk to get out of the inning with a 2-1 lead intact. He already leads the Rays in WPA for the series before he even takes the mount Monday; a strong outing tonight that results in a series victory could earn him some hardware—and trigger a sweet $50,000 bonus in his contract for winning an LCS MVP.

While the Mets had him messing around with breaking pitches that didn’t suit him, the Rays have had him focus on his four-seamer and changeup. They’ve ramped it up even more in the playoffs. He threw fastballs on 53% of his pitches in the regular season, but he’s used it 69% of the time in October, and he has yet to throw his slider even once. He’s also thrown some lighter fluid on his gas, averaging 97 mph in the playoffs. In the 2025 postseason with Milwaukee, he averaged 94 in three starts.

The starting pitcher for Cleveland will be Bernie Kosar Eddie Harris Sam McDowell Jeremiah Smith…we have no idea. This will be a bullpen game for the second time in three days, which seems less than ideal in the ALCS. Granted, the rainout on Friday played a part, and it messed up Cleveland’s pitching plans more than Tampa Bay’s. The bigger reason for this is they only have three starters they trust at all—and that’s somewhat generously considering Foster Griffin a starter—and they were somehow all unrested and unusable on both Saturday and now Monday. Not great for an elimination game! (Williams could technically pitch Game 6, but his velocity fell markedly over the course of his last start, prompting fears of fatigue—and besides, if they play it, Game 7 is technically an elimination game, as well.)

While everybody is going to have to make themselves available, and Stephen Vogt will have a short leash on all of them, Joey Cantillo is the most likely to give them any kind of length, even if it’s just two innings. He started 30 games in the regular season, but they converted him to the bullpen in late September and have used him in short relief in the playoffs. He has been a little shaky in limited action in the ALCS, allowing two walks and a hit to the eight batters he faced in the first and fourth games of the series. Meanwhile, Opening Day starter Tanner Bibee may not actually even remember how to pitch, at this point; he’s faced just three batters (and retired one) in more than three weeks.