Texas Rangers Win American League Pennant, Nelson Cruz Earns Series MVP

The world of baseball has never seen anything like what Nelson Cruz displayed over the entire American League Championship Series. In fact, over the 142-year history of Major League Baseball, no one had ever topped his performance.

After a terrible ALDS in which he went 1-for-12 with five strikeouts, Cruz absolutely lit up both ballparks, hitting .364 with a big league-record six home runs and 13 RBI in the ALCS. The guy was completely out of control.

Meanwhile, we can't decide whether the Rangers embarrassed the Detroit Tigers or the Tigers embarrassed themselves. Between an incredible display of incompetence on the field and a lack of timing and finesse at the plate, they were crushed 15-5 and sent packing for the offseason Saturday night.

Here's a breakdown: Nellie nailed a solo shot in Game 1 that proved to be the deciding run in his team's 3-2 victory; he tied Game 2 with a homer in the seventh before nailing the first ever walkoff grand slam in postseason history; he crushed a three-run shot in the 11th inning of Game 4; he went yard on a 100-mph Justin Verlander heater in Game 5; and of course, he hit one more for good measure in the seventh inning of Game 6. It's almost like he's expected to hit a bomb when he's at the plate.

Now the Rangers, who are headed to the World Series for the second consecutive season, get to wait and see who wins the NLCS between the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers, with Game 6 set for Sunday night at 8:05pm ET on TBS.