Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times posted it on X on Wednesday, and the Rays made it official shortly after. “Griffin Jax will start Game 3 for Rays.”
That is not the name most of the league had penciled in. Nick Martinez started Game 3 of the ALDS against the Yankees and was the widely expected choice for the same slot in this series. Instead Martinez stays in the bullpen, where he already worked in Games 1 and 2, and Jax takes the ball at Progressive Field with the series tied 1-1.
Jax pitched his way into this
The 31-year-old right-hander, born in Phoenix on Nov. 22, 1994, finished 2026 at 8-10 with a 3.53 ERA and 116 strikeouts in 112 and 1/3 innings over 34 appearances, 23 of them starts. He opened the year in the bullpen and moved into the rotation in late April and May.
The back end of his season is the real argument. Jax posted a 0.90 ERA over his final five appearances. Across his last four regular-season starts he threw 18 innings, allowed one run, struck out 15 and walked three. Tampa Bay is betting on that pitcher, not on the 8-10 record.
He arrived in the July 31, 2025 trade that sent Taj Bradley to Minnesota. He also had a scare this season, landing on the 15-day injured list on Aug. 9 with right elbow discomfort, the first IL stint of his career, before being activated Sept. 2. He has given Kevin Cash no reason to worry about it since.
Progressive Field has been kind to him
Jax carries a 2.19 career ERA with 20 strikeouts in 13 relief appearances at Progressive Field. Thirteen outings from the bullpen is not the same as starting a league championship series game in that park, but the Rays clearly looked at the ballpark and the matchups and liked what they found.
His background is worth a paragraph of its own. Jax is a United States Air Force Academy graduate, the first in major league history, and he remains an officer, a captain in the Air Force Reserve.
A 1 p.m. first pitch and a tough counterpart
Game 3 is Thursday at Progressive Field, moved up to 1 p.m. ET from its original 6 p.m. ET slot because of rain in the Thursday night forecast for Cleveland. A matinee after a travel day scrambles both teams’ routines, and it narrows the window for the bullpens to get loose and stay loose.
Cleveland’s probable starter is Gavin Williams, who was outstanding in the ALDS with a 1.54 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 11 and 2/3 innings. Stephen Vogt had not officially announced him, so treat that as probable rather than settled.
The logic behind choosing Jax over Martinez is not complicated. Martinez has already pitched twice in this series and is more valuable to Cash as an arm he can deploy in any inning than as a starter locked into one outing. Jax, meanwhile, was arguably the Rays’ best starter over the last month of the regular season.
Going off script in a tied series takes some nerve. In this case it is also the correct read, because the version of Griffin Jax who finished September is better than the plan everybody assumed Tampa Bay would run back.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.