On to the ALCS!
After taking heat for an anemic performance in Game 4, the Rays' offense came out swinging early and often, piling up 16 hits in a 6-2 win to take Game 5 and send the Rays to the ALCS. Not to be overlooked though was another outstanding effort from
Tyler Glasnow, who wasn't as unhittable as Game 1 but was still overpowering in a 6.1 6 1 1 2 8 effort. But it was nice to see the hitters not making outs as
Wander Franco had 4 hits while
Andrew Greckel and
Luke Voit each had 3. A caught stealing in the 1st meant the Rays had 3 hits in the inning without scoring, and with two out in the 2nd they had 2 more with nobody in and 2 out but
Ed Howard broke the ice with an RBI double, and they took off from there. Greckel homered again for the final run and was named series MVP but it's kind of ludicrous (and an OOTP blind spot when it comes to pitchers and weekly/series awards) that it didn't go to Glasnow, who was 2-0, 0.69 with 20 whiffs in 13 innings. So who do we play in the ALCS?
That would be Detroit, which came back from losing Game 1 and falling behind 2-1 with a taut 5-4 win over Kansas City. Their win means the AL's top two teams will play for a World Series berth with the series opening in Detroit in a couple of days. Dustin May will take the bump in Game 1 for Tampa Bay. The Tigers, already without superstar slugger Spencer Torkelson, may have to play the series without ace Rony Garcia, who had to leave with back tightness in tonight's game and the injury is rated "moderate" for a week.