Carlos Correa hit a walkoff homerun to force a Game Six in the ALCS, with Houston down 3-2. In his postgame interview, he confirmed that it will be Framber Valdez on the hill for Game Six.

We now know that it will be a rematch from the first game of the set, as the Rays will send 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell to the hill. The Rays won that game 2-1.

This really isn’t a surprise as Blake Snell has been their ace and started the first game in all of their playoffs series so far. In 11 regular season games, he went 4-2 with a 3.42 ERA in his best season since his Cy Young campaign. During his Cy year, he went 21-5 with a 1.89 ERA and 221 strikeouts, just missing the AL Triple Crown in just under 181 innings of work.

This postseason, he’s pitched to a 2.96 ERA giving up five earned runs over 15.2 innings pitched. The Rays are still only one win away from their second appearance in the World Series in franchise history. The most recent was 2008, when their core consisted of Jason Bartlett, James Shields, Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena and a rookie Evan Longoria. Yet, it is another rookie in 2020 in Randy Arozarena who has propelled them to this point, having tied Evan Longoria for the most postseason homeruns as a rookie in MLB history (8). Can they clinch tomorrow? Time will tell.

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