World Series 2026: the Rays beat the Guardians 4-2 with three straight wins, setting up Brewers vs Rays, two No. 1 seeds, from October 24 in Milwaukee

Tampa Bay finished the American League Championship Series 4-2. It won Game 5 3-1 in Cleveland at 6 a.m. on Monday, October 19, Korea time, to lead 3-2, and closed it out with a 7-3 win in Game 6 at home at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, October 20. After losing Games 1 and 3 to trail 1-2, it won Games 4, 5 and 6. Tampa Bay outscored Cleveland 25-18 over the six games. Of the ways our previous piece gave, this is the Game 5 winner also taking Game 6 on October 20 and finishing it in Tampa Bay. Game 7 on October 21 is not needed.

Every result and date here comes from the ESPN postseason data behind this site's postseason page and series pages. The cut-off is Tuesday afternoon, October 20, Korea time, after Game 6. Dates and times are Korea time, with the US date added where it helps. This piece covers results and the arithmetic of the games left only, with no forecasts and no probabilities.

How the series went. Second seed Cleveland won Game 1 7-3 in Tampa Bay on Tuesday, October 13, and top seed Tampa Bay won Game 2 at home 3-1 on Wednesday, October 14. In Cleveland, Cleveland won Game 3 3-2 on Friday, October 16, and Tampa Bay won Game 4 7-3 on Sunday, October 18 and Game 5 3-1 on Monday, October 19. Back in Tampa Bay, Game 6 on October 20 finished 7-3. Tampa Bay won two of its three road games and two of its three home games in the series, and only Game 3 was decided by one run.

Tampa Bay is 7-2 in nine games this postseason, 4-1 at home and 3-1 on the road, and has scored 35 runs and allowed 23. It was the top seed in the American League at 98-64 in the regular season, skipped the Wild Card round and swept the Yankees 3-0 in the Division Series. Cleveland came back from 0-2 down with three straight wins against the White Sox in the Division Series, but lost this series 2-4 and finishes the postseason 5-6 (2-4 at home, 3-2 on the road).

Milwaukee finished the National League Championship Series 4-0 against the Dodgers on Friday, October 16. It is 7-1 in eight postseason games (4-0 at home, 3-1 on the road), with 34 runs scored and 21 allowed. It was the top seed in the National League at 103-59 and beat San Diego 3-1 in the Division Series. So this World Series is a meeting of the two leagues' No. 1 seeds.

The World Series is a best of seven with a 2-3-2 home pattern. Home advantage goes to the club with the better regular-season record, and Milwaukee's 103-59 is better than Tampa Bay's 98-64, so Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 are in Milwaukee. Game 1 is at 9 a.m. on Saturday, October 24 (8 p.m. Eastern on Friday, October 23 in the US), and Game 2 at 9 a.m. on Sunday, October 25. Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday, October 27 and Wednesday, October 28, and Game 5 on Thursday, October 29, are at 9 a.m. in Tampa Bay. Games 6 and 7 on Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1 are at 9 a.m. back in Milwaukee. Games 5 to 7 are played only if needed.

The arithmetic of the games left. The first club to four wins takes it, so the series ends no earlier than Game 4 on Wednesday, October 28 and no later than Game 7 on Sunday, November 1. Whichever club wins, a 4-0 or 4-1 result ends it in Tampa Bay, where Games 4 and 5 are played, and a 4-2 or 4-3 result ends it in Milwaukee, where Games 6 and 7 are played. Milwaukee opens eight days after its Game 4 on October 16, and Tampa Bay four days after its Game 6 on October 20.

Korea start times for every game are on the schedule page and the World Series page, and the finished series is on the ALCS page. Each club's postseason record is on its page: Tampa Bay, Milwaukee and Cleveland. The seeding and tiebreaker rules are in our explainer. This site's clinch and tragic numbers are a regular-season calculation and stay frozen at the final standings of September 28.