The Cleveland Guardians will face the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Championship Series starting on Monday night. The best-of-seven affair will decide who wins the pennant in the junior circuit.
The Rays haven’t won the World Series in franchise history, and the Guardians haven’t lifted the trophy since 1948. There’s a lot at stake for both organizations.
The Rays are the overwhelming favorite heading into Monday’s Game 1. They won 98 regular-season games and swept the New York Yankees in the AL Division Series. The Guardians, on the other hand, had to sweat and come back from a 0-2 deficit just to beat the Chicago White Sox.
All of this will mean absolutely nothing when the two teams meet on the field, though.
There’s one specific Rays weakness that the Guardians could, and should, exploit. They are not so good at hitting left-handed pitchers.
“Maybe it means nothing in the end, but the Rays’ splits vs LHP are at the very least noteworthy as a team,” More For You Cleveland said.
Maybe it means nothing in the end, but the Rays splits vs LHP are at the very least note worthy as a team https://t.co/7Ae9O7ZXtP pic.twitter.com/KZ2Awwjowb
— MoreForYouCleveland (@MoreForYou_CLE) October 11, 2026
The Rays finished the 2026 regular season with the eighth-best OPS in the league at .728. Against right-handed pitchers, they were fifth with an impressive .751 mark.
However, facing southpaws created some problems for them. They finished 25th out of 30 MLB squads with a mediocre .678 OPS. That’s probably why Guardians manager Stephen Vogt decided to start Foster Griffin in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night.
Griffin, an All-Star this year, held lefty hitters to a .204 batting average, as opposed to a .265 mark against righties. He gives Cleveland an edge, on paper at least.
This Rays’ split also represents good news for other lefties on the Guardians’ staff, such as Parker Messick, Tim Herrin, Erik Sabrowski, and Joey Cantillo. All of them are expected to have prominent roles in this specific matchup, especially Sabrowski and Herrin out of the bullpen and Griffin and Messick probably making more than one start.
Theoretically, the Rays are heavily favored to advance, but details like this one keep the Guardians in contention for a spot in the World Series.
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