AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: GUARDIANS VS RAYS

October 19, 2026

Stephen Vogt

Tropicana Field

Cleveland Guardians

Postgame 6 Press Conference

Rays - 7, Guardians - 3

Q. First off, can you share any message that you may have had for the guys after this game?

STEPHEN VOGT: Yeah, let it hurt. That hurts.

I couldn't be more proud of our group. It just hurts. It stings. Really felt like we had a team to go and just weren't able to get there.

But I couldn't be more proud of our entire group, our players, coaches, staff, front office.

Let it hurt. Let it sink in. Let it fuel you this winter.

But more than anything, just really proud of our group.

Q. You add it all up, it was a quality start through six innings. Can you talk about, did the pitching go as you hoped or planned? How did you see that?

STEPHEN VOGT: I mean, it didn't go perfectly, obviously. But everybody stepped up and pitched their tail off today. Two unfortunate pitches that they added on.

Credit to our guys. It's a gut punch there in the seventh. And our guys came right back and got the tying run at second, winning run -- go-ahead run at first.

And our guys never quit. They never stopped fighting. That's who they are. But yeah, I thought our guys pitched excellent today.

Q. I know we've talked about Tanner Bibee a little bit throughout the series. But him not getting in any of these games, was there any moment where you considered him? How do you explain his lack of usage?

STEPHEN VOGT: I think with Tanner, specifically, it was -- these games, you need the extra-inning coverage. I think that's what it kind of boiled down to.

I think had we advanced, the usage could have looked a lot different. But it's unfortunate. We wanted Tanner to pitch. The spot just never really presented itself.