Guardians-Rays ALCS Game 3 start time moved up to 1 p.m. ET due to rain in the forecast

Thursday's Game 3 of the 2026 ALCS between the Cleveland Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays has been moved up from a 6 p.m. ET start to 1 p.m. ET, MLB announced.

The game at Progressive Field in Cleveland will see an earlier start due to the rain forecast on Thursday night in the area.

The Guardians and Rays are tied 1-1 in the best-of-7 series following Tampa's 3-1 win on Tuesday night.

Freddy Peralta continued to dominate on the mound for the Rays since being dealt from the New York Mets. The right-hander went six innings, allowed zero runs and struck out six. Over his last eight appearances, he has recorded a 0.81 ERA.

Game 3, which will air on TBS, HBO MAX, and TruTV, will feature Griffin Jax on the mound for the Rays and Gavin Williams likely going for the Guardians.

"It's going to be a challenging place to play," said Rays manager Kevin Cash. "We played there not too long ago in the postseason. That's as good an atmosphere as you're going to see. They've got a great fan base that's going to be behind their team. I'd like to think we can carry our momentum into there and just play good baseball for Game 3."

Cleveland-Tampa will be the first of two games Thursday. Game 4 of the Milwaukee Brewers-Los Angeles Dodges NLCS will start at 9 p.m. ET from Dodger Stadium.