Yandy Diaz Predicts Tampa Bay Will Win ALCS, and He’s Probably Right

His prediction wasn't exactly like New York Jets legend Joe Namath famously talking to reporters three days before Super Bowl III. Tampa Bay Rays slugger Yandy Diaz said it just the same Sunday night. With his team on the verge of clinching the best-of-seven ALCS, the Rays would take care of business Monday night at Tropicana Field in Game 6:

"It's a great opportunity," Diaz said in Spanish through an interpreter. "All of us are thinking of it. But it all ends tomorrow. We're going to win tomorrow."

Call him "NostraDiaz." Patent pending.

While there's no reason to doubt his confidence or sincerity 57 years ago, Namath's prophecy at the Miami Touchdown Club was closer to a guess or a hope. The AFL teams had been routed in each of the first two Super Bowls, and the know-it-all gamblers pegged the Baltimore Colts as 17- to 19-point favorites.

Diaz making his prediction to reporters after the Rays beat the Guardians 3-1 in Game 5 seems more like Namath forecasting victory against between the third and fourth quarters, with the Jets up 13-0. Because this series is all but decided. Another Cleveland comeback is impossibly unlikely. It's a little scary to use the phrase "it's over" with Cleveland, because every time somebody tries to bury the Guardians, they reach up through the ground with a zombie arm and dig themselves out of their fresh grave, ready to give it one more zombie try.

All the same: Tomorrow has finally come for the Guardians. They can't put it off any longer. Have those shovels ready at Tropicana Field. No matter that it's artificial turf. There's dirt under there somewhere. Yeah, start digging.

Right-hander Freddy Peralta is set to start for the Rays. The Guardians won't even say who is pitching for them in Game 6. They did say who won't be starting: Right-hander Gavin Williams is "not an option" on three days rest, Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. While you figure that everyone is on the table for an elimination game, and Williams has seemed superficially superhuman at times this postseason, the bill has come due for his services.

They call Williams the "Big Rig" because he's an enormous human with a great pitching arsenal. But the price of diesel fuel has gotten to everyone. The upper-90s fastball Williams throws started to noticeably tick down in mph toward the end of his previous start in Game 3. It's not a coincidence that Williams starting was the last time the Guardians won a game in the series, because they've run out of pitchers.

Vogt probably will use an opener for Game 6, with right-hander Tanner Bibee in the wings for a bulk appearance. Not that Vogt seems enthusiastic about it. He and Guardians pitching coaches obviously know their own guys better than anyone, but Bibee doesn't seem like the worst guy in the world to send to the mound. He was their opening day starter, which must seem like a million innings ago now. Cleveland lost his two starts against the Rays during the regular season, but Bibee pitched OK, allowing a combined four earned runs over 11 innings. Diaz, Junior Caminero and Jonathan Aranda have hit him pretty hard, and Bibee's stuff isn't as effective as that of Williams or left-hander Parker Messick, but he's also the kind of pitcher most teams still have to rely on once in a while.

And yet, Bibee has pitched only once in the postseason -- seeing just three batters in relief against the White Sox on Oct. 8. Perhaps another occurrence of shoulder soreness has popped up, diminishing his effectiveness. Maybe the manager is hunting a three- or four-inning shutout -- and Bibee is just too unlikely to do it.

At least the Colts had Johnny Unitas available to come off the bench for Earl Morrall. Even then, the best Unitas could do was make the score 16-7.

Yep, it's time to call it. Yandy's prediction will be a dandy.