The Cleveland Guardians are set to take on the Tampa Bay Rays.
The waiting game is over as the Cleveland Guardians now know that they will take on the Tampa Bay Rays in the Wild Card Series. Cleveland already knew that they would be hosting their opponent in their series beginning Friday as they clinched the American League Central. All the Guardians had to do was wait for everything else to sort itself out and now it has.
Cleveland took four of their six matchups with Tampa this season, the most recent being at the end of September. Across their six contests it was the Guardians outscoring the Rays 22-18, with the largest margin of victory being just three runs back on July 29th. These two teams are incredibly similar as they do not rely on the long ball for offense and are backed by strong pitching. This is as close as a coin flip series as they come. It would not be a surprise to see either team advance and take on the New York Yankees in the ALDS.