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Smart pitching. Clutch hitting. Sharp fielding. Plus an MVP Panda. All the right elements for a sweet World Series sweep for the San Francisco Giants. Nearly knocked out in the playoffs time and time again, and finally pressed by the Detroit Tigers in Game 4, Pablo Sandoval and the Giants clinched their second title in three seasons Sunday night.

In the absence of truly great teams, baseball thrives on drama. And for weeks, the sport got about as much as it could have hoped for: postseason races that came down to the final days of the regular season, four division series that went five games and a Game 7 in the NLCS.

Justin Verlander lasted just four innings on Wednesday night and surrendered two of the three home runs hit by Giants slugger Pablo Sandoval in an 8-3 Tigers loss that opened the World Series in San Francisco.

The big curveball was back, and Barry Zito mixed in some well-placed fastballs, too. It was just like the good old days. Zito was at his best Friday night, pitching San Francisco back into the NL championship series with a 5-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals that narrowed its deficit to 3-2.

The 2012 Yankees will be remembered for hitting a record number of regular season home runs before experiencing the kind of sudden outage rivaling any blackout in the history of New York.

One more win and another bunch of wild-card Cardinals get their chance to repeat. Adam Wainwright threw seven innings of four-hit ball and St. Louis roughed up Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants in an 8-3 rout Thursday night that gave the Cardinals a 3-1 lead in the NL championship series.

The sight of Marco Scutaro on the ground in pain after getting flattened by Matt Holliday's hard takeout was just the spark the San Francisco Giants needed. Scutaro even got into the act with his own big blow that helped the Giants end their home slide.

The Detroit Tigers got a big boost from Anibal Sanchez's arm. They got a helping hand from an umpire, too. The reward: a commanding 2-0 lead in the AL championship series, and a trip home with their ace ready to start. Sanchez shut down a Yankees lineup minus injured Derek Jeter, Detroit scored twice after an admitted missed call by an ump and won without any extra-inning drama, beating New York 3-0 Sunday.

On a cool, dark autumn night, the stars shined bright and brilliant in the Bronx. But the biggest ones in pinstripes watched the dramatic conclusion from the afar — shortstop Derek Jeter injured and third baseman Alex Rodriguez benched — while Detroit’s finest, Miguel Cabrera, scored the winning run in extra innings.

In the end, it made sense that Yadier Molina and David Freese would work those key walks, and that Daniel Descalso and Pete Kozma would come through with those tying and go-ahead, two-run hits....