League Championship Series Both 3-2

The ALCS currently stands with the Texas Rangers poised to repeat as American League champs, as they hold a 3-2 advantage over the Detroit Tigers, who staved off elimination in Game Five behind their ace Justin Verlander.  Tonight Texas plays Game Six at home and sends southpaw Derek Holland (16-5, 3.95 ERA, and a league-leading four shutouts during the regular season) to the hill against 15 game-winner Max Scherzer to try to avoid a potential Game Seven.  Nelson Cruz has been a one-man wrecking crew for Texas by slamming all five of their home runs and accounting for almost half of their RBI (he has 11 of their 24).  He's also toting an absurd 1.622 OPS into tonight's showdown.  On the other side, Detroit's offensive attack has been much more balanced, as they actually have higher on base and slugging percentages while homering nearly twice as often (and spread out amongst seven players, none of whom have belted more than two).  Righthanded batters Miguel Cabrera and Ryan Raburn are swinging hot bats and will look to take advantage of the Texas lefty (who get yanked in the third inning of Game Two) in the friendly hitting confines of Arlington.

Nelson Cruz set an LCS record with five home runs

In the National League, the same Cardinals who were left for dead in the NL Wild Card race this time last month are just one win away from their third Fall Classic appearance in the past eight seasons.  They will have to do it in Milwaukee, though, where the Brewers went 57-24 over the course of the season.  Tomorrow afternoon midseason import Edwin Jackson (12-9, 3.79 with a 2010 no-hitter under his belt) gets the ball against soft-tosser Shaun Marcum (13-7, 3.54 in his NL debut), neither of whom made it out of the fifth inning in their first NLCS starts.  Not surprisingly, Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday have led the Redbirds' charge (with some help from David Freese) and helped overcome mediocre performances from the starting rotation while MVP candidates Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder have returned the favor for the Brew Crew. 

Albert Pujols continues to build upon his impressive October history

My predictions: The Rangers will polish off the Tigers, and the Brewers will win to force Game Seven.