MLB

The ALCS Is Now Best-of-Three, and the Rays' 'Three Little Ones' Just Woke Up

The ALCS Is Now Best-of-Three, and the Rays' 'Three Little Ones' Just Woke Up

Tampa Bay and Cleveland play a pivotal Game 5 on Sunday afternoon, and both teams are now two wins from a World Series date with Milwaukee.

Tampa Bay and Cleveland play a pivotal Game 5 on Sunday afternoon, and both teams are now two wins from a World Series date with Milwaukee.

An aerial view of an empty baseball stadium with a freshly cut green field and dark seats

Photo: Robert Medford / Pexels

Every manager has a trick for snapping a slump. Rays manager Kevin Cash uses a nickname. When his three best hitters, Junior Caminero, Yandy Díaz and Jonathan Aranda, go cold, he stops calling them the big three and starts calling them Los Tres Pequeños: the three little ones, ESPN's Jorge Castillo reported.

"It's kind of a dig at them and protecting the rest of the lineup," Cash said. On Saturday, the little ones went 6 for 14 with five RBIs in a 7-3 win that tied the ALCS at 2-2.

On the other side, Cleveland rookie Chase DeLauter owned the seventh-inning grounder that skipped under his glove. "Put that one on me," he told ESPN. Then he moved on: "Tied series. Another home game. Move on and come back and be better tomorrow."

Game 5 is Sunday at 5 p.m. ET in Cleveland, with Rays ace Drew Rasmussen against All-Star rookie lefty Parker Messick. Per ESPN, teams that win Game 5 of a series tied 2-2 have gone on to win it 46 times out of 69.

What's next: Game 6 is Monday in St. Petersburg, and the winner meets the Brewers in the World Series starting Oct. 23.