Just how deep into the postseason can smart roster building take an MLB team? The playoff runs of the Cleveland Guardians and the Tampa Bay Rays hold the answer. As the Rays and the Guardians are set to clash for the third time in October baseball, the competitive rosters of these two teams have created MLB history.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
According to ESPN Insights on X, “The Guardians and Rays will meet in the ALCS with the two lowest payrolls in the American League this season. It’s the first time in the Wild Card era (since 1995) that the two teams with the lowest payrolls in their league will meet in the LCS.”
The Rays and the Guardians dived into the playoff fray as the No.1- and No. 2-ranked American League teams, each with a postseason bye. In the AL Division Series, they went head-to-head with higher-payroll teams and came out on top. The Rays and the Guardians have the lowest payrolls in the AL.
According to ESPN, this is the first time in 31 years that the two lowest-payroll teams are going for the league pennant.
The Rays faced the New York Yankees, the team with the third-highest payroll in MLB, and swept them in three games. According to Spotrac, the Yankees’ adjusted payroll for 2026 sits at $308.3 million. Despite holding a payroll that is more than three times that of the Rays, Tampa outscored New York 10-5 in the ALDS.
In 2026, the Rays have an adjusted payroll of $95.6 million, per Spotrac.
The Cleveland Guardians, on the other hand, have the lowest payroll not only in the American League but in MLB as well.
The Guardians’ adjusted payroll sits at $74.4 million in 2026, per Spotrac. Though the difference is not as stark as between the Rays and the Yankees, the White Sox, too, had a higher adjusted payroll ($103.3 million), per Spotrac. The Guardians came out on top of the Chicago White Sox despite trailing by a 0-2 deficit at the start of the series.
Notably, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ payroll is higher than that of all three of the other MLB teams in the playoffs combined, including the Milwaukee Brewers, the Rays, and the Guardians.
Interestingly enough, the other two times the Guardians and the Tampa Bay Rays have met in October were in the Wild Card games.
In the 2013 Wild Card game, the Rays beat the Guardians 4-0 at Progressive Field.
Their latest meeting happened in the 2022 Wild Card Series, where the Guardians swept the Rays 2-0 in the best-of-three series. They also created history in the marathon 15-inning Game 2.
It was the first postseason game in MLB history that remained scoreless entering the 15th inning. Oscar Gonzales hit the walk-off home run in the bottom of the fifteenth to help the Guardians record a series sweep.
This will be the first time the two teams meet in a best-of-seven series. In the process, the Guardians also became the first team since 2017 to reach the ALCS after being down 0-2.
The Rays won the 2026 regular-season series against the Guardians, 5-1. Now, while the Rays are chasing their first-ever World Series title, Cleveland is aiming to end the league’s longest drought, which has existed since 1948.