Every step of the Cleveland Guardians’ quest to bring a championship back to the city gets increasingly difficult.

Their ALCS opponent, the Tampa Bay Rays, won’t be an easy one to take down, but there are some keys that could help the Guardians win the American League and get back to the World Series.

Tampa Bay has several offensive threats in its lineup, headlined by the former Cleveland prospect Junior Caminero. However, the offense has a weak spot: production against left-handed pitching.

The Rays finished the regular season with a .679 OPS against southpaws, which ranked 24th in all of baseball, and just went tick better than Cleveland’s .678 OPS.

The only players with a wRC+ against left-handers better than league average (min. 150 plate appearances) were Caminero (152), Ryan Vilade (126), and Yandy Diaz (114).

On paper, the Guardians should be able to attack the Rays on this front. Some of the best pitchers on Cleveland’s pitching staff are southpaws, including Parker Messick and Erik Sabrowski. Joey Cantillo and Tim Herrin could also see more appearances out of the bullpen in the ALCS compared to the ALDS given the matchups.

The Guardians’ left-handed pitching attack will start during Game 1 with Foster Griffin taking the mound for Cleveland.

Cleveland’s pitching hit the ground running in the ALDS, but it took the bats a while to wake up. Simply put, that can’t happen against the Rays in the ALCS, or the Guardians won’t be able to recover; Tampa Bay’s pitching staff is simply too good.

In the six regular-season games against the Rays, the Guardians posted a .170/.227/.245 with a .471 OPS, the lowest among any team they faced in 2026.

Tampa Bay’s Game 1 starter, Drew Rasmussen, dominated the Guardians lineup. He made two starts against Cleveland, allowing two earned runs in 12 innings (1.50 ERA) and striking out a total of 15 batters in those appearances.

With that in mind, the Guardians faced the Rays in April and then at the end of July. It's been a while since the two teams last met, and Cleveland has added new hitters to its lineup, including Jo Adell and Nathaniel Lowe.

But that point still stands; if the Guardians can’t generate offense early, the ALCS might end up being shorter than Cleveland anticipates.

Cleveland has a chance to get back to the World Series in large part thanks to Jose Ramirez’s heroics.

To recap, he made an incredible play at third base to save two runs in Game 3, hit a two-run homer in Game 4, and another two-run long shot in Game 5. The 2026 postseason has been the 24-year-old's best October run in a long time, and arguably his career.

Ramirez now has a 1.118 OPS in 18 at-bats so far this October.

The Guardians need Ramirez to continue playing at this high level. Clearly, Cleveland’s lineup goes as he does