How Rays stole superstar from ALCS foe

Plus: A blast worthy of Ohtani

Monday, October 12 View Online Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know, brought to you by David Adler. Today we have a revenge series for a star slugger, the results of last week's poll and a home run swing worthy of Ohtani (but *against* the Dodgers).   This question comes up every now and then when Junior Caminero does something particularly electric. But it's never loomed larger than right now: How in the world did the Rays get this guy from the Guardians?    Caminero is the best player for the best team in the American League. And now he's facing the team that traded him away with a spot in the World Series on the line.    Tampa Bay hosts the Guardians in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series tonight (8 p.m. ET on TBS/truTV/UniMas/HBO Max), and you're going to hear plenty about this story during this series -- how the Rays stole Caminero from Cleveland five years ago.    Caminero was just 18 years old and had played just a half-season in the Dominican Summer League when the Guardians sent him off to the Rays on Nov. 19, 2021, for Tobias Myers -- a journeyman pitcher who never reached the Majors in Cleveland and is now on his fourth different team in the five years since the deal.    And Caminero? He's now an MVP contender who's mashed 40-plus homers in back-to-back seasons for the Rays and has quickly become one of baseball's most fun young superstars.    Our Rays reporter Adam Berry revisits how Tampa Bay pulled off one of the great steals in recent memory.   There are a bunch of great details in there, like how the trade made a young Caminero wonder: "Am I a bad guy? Why would they trade me?"    Or how the deal was the product of the Rays investing heavily in scouting the lowest levels of the Minors under then-head of scouting Kevin Ibach. The Rays were following Caminero closely even in the sparsely scouted DSL, so they were ready to pounce. As Ibach said: "It was pretty unanimous, from the eyes on the ground on the island that saw him, that it was a different sound every time he swung the bat."    Now that much is obvious to, well, everyone. And if Caminero still has a chip on his shoulder? Watch out, Guardians.    Caminero isn't the only member of the Rays in this series with a Cleveland connection. Max Ralph takes a look at who else fits the bill. POLL RESULTS: SKUBAL VS. THE MIZ On Friday, we asked you who you'd rather have on the mound for Game 1 of a playoff series, Tarik Skubal or Jacob Misiorowski.    Your vote? The Miz.    57% of you picked the Brewers' Cy Young heir apparent, compared to 43% of you who picked the Dodgers' back-to-back Cy Young incumbent.    And hey, if we're going off the actual results of NLCS Game 1 … you were right. The Skubal-Misiorowski duel was a little shorter than we were hoping for -- Misiorowski went just 4 1/3 innings, and Skubal went five -- but the Brewers did hand Skubal the loss in their series-opening victory.  WHAT TO KNOW FOR TODAY'S GAMES Both series play today. Here's all the key info and storylines to watch.   NLCS Game 2: Dodgers at Brewers (Brewers lead series 1-0)  5 p.m. ET/4 CT/2 PT on FOX/FS1/FOX Deportes/FOX One Game 2 FAQ  The series so far    The Brewers held on for a 2-1 win in yesterday's Game 1 … which means they've already won one more game in their rematch against the reigning champs than they did in last year's NLCS sweep by the Dodgers.    Today's pitching matchup: Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Dodgers) vs. Logan Henderson (Brewers)   Key storyline: Can Yamamoto continue to be a superhero?   The Brewers were victims of Playoff Yoshi last year -- Yamamoto threw a complete game against them in Game 2 of the NLCS. And the Dodgers' postseason ace looks just as dominant this October, after a seven-inning, 10-strikeout gem against the Braves in the NLDS. Milwaukee did just beat Tarik Skubal, though. If they can get to Yamamoto, too, maybe this year really will be different for the Brew Crew.   ***   ALCS Game 1: Guardians at Rays  8 p.m. ET on TBS/truTV/UniMas/HBO Max Game 1 FAQ How they got here    The top-seeded Rays are well rested after sweeping the Yankees in the ALDS. That allows them to line up their rotation behind ace Drew Rasmussen, who pitched a near-no-hitter against the Bronx Bombers. The Guardians had to pull off a dramatic comeback from down 0-2 to the rival White Sox. They at least have plenty of momentum heading into this series after taking down the Sox in Saturday's winner-take-all Game 5.    Today's pitching matchup: Foster Griffin (Guardians) vs. Drew Rasmussen (Rays)   Key storyline: Can José Ramírez keep this going?    Consider J-Ram's slump busted, and just in the nick of time. The Guardians' longtime leader went 5-for-12 with a double, triple, two home runs and seven RBIs over the final three games of the ALDS -- including the go-ahead home run in Game 5 off a pitch at his shoetops -- and all but singlehandedly carried his team to its comeback victory. A red-hot J-Ram is Cleveland's best chance of making the World Series. A BLAST WORTHY OF OHTANI Brice Turang's home run swing last night would've made Shohei Ohtani proud … if he weren't on the other team.    Turang's game-tying shot off Tarik Skubal in the Brewers' Game 1 win is worth a second look today. Skubal's hard enough to take deep, period … let alone take deep in a lefty-lefty matchup … to the opposite field … with an inside-out swing on a sinker boring in on your hands.    But Turang did it the hard way. It's the type of home run usually reserved for Ohtani. Literally.   There are now only two players this season to hit an opposite-field home run, lefty-lefty, off an inside fastball like that (shoutout Jake Mintz over at Yahoo Sports for pointing this out): Ohtani and Turang.     Let's check 'em out side by side. Ohtani actually did this three times -- but none of his homers were off 96 mph gas thrown by a reigning Cy Young winner. The fastest pitch Ohtani homered against was 92 mph from Eduardo Rodriguez (that's the one above). So Turang's might be the most impressive of the bunch. A TRUE HEDGE KNIGHT We learned from "Game of Thrones" that any knight can make a knight. Any Guardian too, apparently.    Seven months after a team-building trip to Medieval Times, the Guardians are still dubbing a new "Knight of the Day" after every victory.    Their knightly ways -- with Austin Hedges at the heart of it all -- have led the Guards to a division title and a chance at the AL pennant. Now they're just hoping for eight new knights to be dubbed before the end of this postseason run.    Tim Stebbins takes you behind the scenes on Cleveland's celebratory rituals -- which include a sword, a scroll, a helmet and all the medieval trappings you could hope for. © 2026 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. MLB trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. Any other marks used herein are trademarks of their respective owners. Please review our Privacy Policy. You (geoffgould.gr8iphone@blogger.com) received this message because you registered to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com. Please add info@marketing.mlbemail.com to your address book to ensure our messages reach your inbox. If you no longer wish to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com, please unsubscribe  or log in and manage your email subscriptions. Postal Address: MLB.com, c/o MLB Advanced Media, L.P., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.