Travis Bazzana’s late efforts weren’t enough as his Cleveland Guardians fell 7-3 in game six of the American League Championship Series, with the Tampa Bay Rays booking a World Series showdown against the Milwaukee Brewers.
It guarantees a historic first-time champion will be crowned.
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The Rays, created in 1998, have made the World Series twice before but lost in 2008 and 2020.
The Brewers, who were established in 1969 and moved to Milwaukee a year later, are making just their second World Series appearance (1982) and their first as a National League side.
On Tuesday Bazzana’s Guardians threatened a late comeback, loading the bases down 1-5 in the eighth inning with help from a four-pitch walk earned by the Aussie rookie.
They then scored two runs on Rays errors – one walk, one hit-by-pitch – before Kevin Kelly shut the door. Yandy Diaz hit an insurance two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning.
The World Series begins on Saturday October 24 (11am AEDT) in Milwaukee.
THE WORLD SERIES MLB DOESN’T WANT
The next four to seven games might be the last baseball we see until deep into 2027, with a lockout expected to begin on December 1 when the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between team owners and the MLB Players’ Association expires.
The lockout will mean players cannot be traded, sign or communicate with team personnel – effectively all work stops until negotiations are complete on a new CBA.
MLB is enforcing the lockout because it wants to enforce a salary cap, having spent the year arguing publicly – even through TV adverts running on their games – that the league will only be truly fair if the richest teams can’t spend whatever they want.
Currently there is a luxury tax but clubs like the Los Angeles Dodgers are so wealthy they’re happy to pay well overs to have a more talented roster.
The argument is that only the richest teams can succeed, and indeed, the Dodgers have won the last two World Series.
Except the team with the highest payroll this season, the New York Mets ($US346 million), went just 74-88 and didn’t even make the playoffs while the two lowest-payroll teams in the American League were Tampa Bay and Cleveland – the two ALCS sides.
Milwaukee, the other World Series team, sits 19th for payroll with its owners willing to spend more than other small-market teams to try and win.
There is certainly a connection between spending more money and having a better roster but it’s not a guarantee and if anything, MLB’s biggest problem is the number of owners only willing to spend as little as possible and just hope they succeed anyway – not the number of owners spending too much.
Tampa Bay and Milwaukee making the World Series makes a mockery of the MLB’s argument though the owners are still expected to push for a salary cap, because it’ll save them money in the long-term by halting the arms race at the top.
The owners are also proposing major changes to free agency and contract lengths which mean the negotiations are expected to be incredibly difficult and could destroy the entire 2027 season.
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