Drew Rasmussen and Parker Messick meet with control of the ALCS on the line in Game 5

The AL Championship Series is now a best-of-three and Game 5 belongs to two All-Star starters.

Drew Rasmussen takes the mound for the Tampa Bay Rays and rookie left-hander Parker Messick starts for the Cleveland Guardians on Sunday at Progressive Field in Cleveland. First pitch is set for 4:08 p.m. Central on TBS and HBO Max.

How the series got here

Cleveland won Game 1 7-3 and Game 3 3-2. Tampa Bay won Game 2 3-1 and evened the series Saturday night with a 7-3 win in Game 4.

Both Game 5 starters have already pitched once in this series and both of their teams lost those games. Tampa Bay lost Rasmussen's Game 1 start and Cleveland lost Messick's Game 2 start.

Rasmussen on full rest

Rasmussen is 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 14 innings this postseason. In Game 1 against Cleveland he allowed two runs on eight hits with no walks and seven strikeouts over six innings. In his division series opener against the Yankees he struck out 10 and allowed one hit over eight innings.

The right-hander went 16-5 with a 2.67 ERA and 174 strikeouts in 172 innings during the regular season. The Rays chose to keep him on his full five days of rest for Sunday instead of moving him up to pitch Game 4.

Messick gets the ball after the rainout

Messick was not lined up to pitch Game 5. Friday's rainout pushed the schedule back a day, so Cleveland used Foster Griffin in Game 4 and saved its rookie for Sunday.

Messick went 12-9 with a 2.56 ERA and 193 strikeouts in 186 1/3 innings in the regular season. He is 0-2 with a 3.09 ERA in three postseason starts with 14 strikeouts and eight walks in 11 2/3 innings. In Game 2 he gave up three runs, none of them earned, on six hits over five innings.

What is at stake

In best-of-seven series tied 2-2, the team that wins Game 5 has gone on to win the series 46 of 69 times.

The early start gives both teams time to fly to Florida after the game. Game 6 is Monday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg and a Game 7 would follow there if needed. The AL champion will face the Milwaukee Brewers in the World Series.