Detroit Tigers, World Series | featured news

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 San Francisco Giants are back in the World Series, meaning baseball’s best party will rage at least two more nights. The Giants snuffed the reigning champions, the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-0, to win Game 7 of the National League Championship Series at AT&T Park on Monday. They shook orange towels, jammed to classic rock, scarfed garlic fries and reveled in another shot at glory.

Michael Young drove in five runs for the Rangers, who are going back to the World Series, and this time they would appear to be the favorite to win it.

Mike Napoli drove in the go-ahead run, then Nelson Cruz added a three-run homer in the 11th inning as the Rangers took a 3-1 series lead. Game 5 is scheduled for Thursday.