ARLINGTON, Texas -- Allen Craig got the St. Louis Cardinals off to a fast start with a home run in the top of the first inning and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way in an 8-3 victory in Game 4 of our Simulated World Series.

Craig finished with three hits and two RBI to lead a balanced Cardinal attack -- every player had at least one hit -- as St. Louis evened the series at two games apiece.

BOX SCORE:  Cardinals 8, Rangers 3

GAME SUMMARY:  Cards offense doesn't let up

St. Louis starter Edwin Jackson allowed just one run in 6 1/3 innings to get the win. Rangers lefty Derek Holland took the loss.

Texas had plenty of chances to get back in the game, but an inability to get the key hit proved to be the Rangers' downfall. They were just 2-for-19 with runners in scoring position.

What to watch for in the real Game 4

-- Much like they did in a blowout victory Saturday night in the real World Series, the Cardinals got contributions on offense from everyone in the order. Craig's presence in the lineup -- thanks to the DH -- was felt immediately when he homered in the first inning. (Sounds kinda familiar.)

-- The Rangers stole five bases in this game, three by Ian Kinsler and two by David Murphy. Cardinals starter Edwin Jackson has more trouble preventing runners from stealing than anyone else in the rotation, so look for the Rangers to push the issue at every opportunity.

-- The Cardinals were able to leverage their deep bullpen, using five relievers to back up Jackson. Only Fernando Salas allowed a run over the final 2 2/3 innings. And the entire staff did a great job pitching out of trouble -- as evidenced by the Rangers' .105 average with runners in scoring position.

Previous results

Game 1: Cardinals 9, Rangers 4

Game 2: Rangers 9, Cardinals 3

Game 3: Rangers 7, Cardinals 4

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Dynasty League Baseball, from the designer of Pursue the Pennant, is available in both the original Board version and a new Online version featuring "Series," Greatest Team bracket tournaments and continuous draft leagues.

This season, you can pre-play your own 2011 World Series by signing up at Dynasty League Baseball.com and selecting "Series."

ARLINGTON, Texas -- With two powerful offenses and a move to the most hitter-friendly park in the majors, a No. 3 pitcher didn't figure to be the most important player in Game 3 of the 2011 Simulated Series.

But Texas left-hander Matt Harrison limited the St. Louis Cardinals to one run over 6 1/3 innings and the Rangers pounded out 12 hits on their way to a 7-4 victory. Texas now leads the Sim Series two games to one.

BOX SCORE:  Rangers 7, Cardinals 4

GAME SUMMARY:  Harrison pitches Rangers to 2-1 series lead

Harrison's only mistake came when he allowed a solo home run to Allen Craig in the second inning. The Rangers came right back in the bottom of the frame, though, when Mitch Moreland ripped a two-run blast into the second row of right-field seats (screenshot, below).

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ST. LOUIS -- The Texas Rangers got a rare quality start and used the longball to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-3 and even the 2011 Simulated World Series at a game apiece.

BOX SCORE:  Rangers 9, Cardinals 3

GAME SUMMARY:  Rangers bats awaken in rout

Adrian Beltre erased a 1-0 St. Louis lead in the second inning with a two-run homer and Ian Kinsler broke the game open in the fifth with a 441-foot blast to right center (screenshot above) that scored Yorvit Torrealba and gave the Rangers a 5-1 lead against Cardinals lefty Jaime Garcia.

From there, the Rangers had relatively smooth sailing.

Right-hander Colby Lewis allowed just two runs over six innings to get the win and Mike Adams pitched into and out of trouble with the go-ahead runs on base in the eighth inning. The close game turned into a rout when Texas scored four runs in the ninth.

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ST. LOUIS -- Continuing the offensive onslaught that propelled them to the National League pennant, the St. Louis Cardinals blasted the Texas Rangers for a 9-4 victory in the first game of the 2011 Simulated World Series.

BOX SCORE:  Cardinals 9, Rangers 4

GAME SUMMARY:  Cardinals win Game 1

For the third consecutive year, USA TODAY is pre-playing the 2011 World Series using the online simulation game Dynasty League Baseball. The game's creator, Mike Cieslinski, will be piloting the Cardinals while USA TODAY's Steve Gardner runs the Rangers as we see how things might play out.

As expected, there were plenty of hits to go around. Albert Pujols had a pair of doubles and three RBI for St. Louis, with Matt Holliday chipping in two more doubles and two RBI.

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As the World Series draws closer, baseball fans and analysts will soon be spouting opinions on which team will win. We at Fantasy Windup will too, but our forecast will be based on the outcome of a simulation using Dynasty League Baseball.

We did this with last year's World Series, when the computer game predicted the Texas Rangers would defeat the San Francisco Giants. It didn't quite work out that way, but we did learn a great deal about the two teams in the process.

So once again, I'll be playing against the designer of Dynasty League Baseball, Michael Cieslinski, as we pre-play the World Series before it happens ... and we'll see if our games can come as close to the actual result as it did last year. Of course, we'll have the play-by-play and box score for all to see. (And even give you a chance to critique our managerial moves.)

So be on the lookout for the result of Game 1 of the Simulated 2011 World Series between the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals.

(And see below for how you can play along too.)

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By Nick Minnix, Special for USA TODAY

A few weeks ago, Steve Gardner, a participant in KFFL's fantasy baseball analysis draft and expert league, mentioned to Tim Heaney and yours truly that he'd like to see a "How I won K-BAD" piece from one of us.

That, of course, depended on which of us ended up the victor, and it was assuming that Baseball Prospectus' Joe Hamrahi didn't walk away with the title on Sept. 28. Hamrahi was in fact the defending champ, and Heaney claimed victory in 2009. Gardner, who finished fourth this year, was Heaney's primary combatant in that '09 race.

It wasn't something I thought about much at the time, especially considering that Joe and Tim had launched onslaughts on the top position I'd held somewhat comfortably for most of the summer and had thus planted a few seeds of doubt in the ol' coconut. In fact, I didn't think about it at all until a couple of days ago.

Here's how my championship season unfolded.

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At some point before the World Series begins, Sports Weekly will publish a final set of Power Rankings, complete with the end-of-season awards picks. Like the official BBWAA voting, our ballots had to be in before the postseason began.

Here's a look at who I voted for and why.

AL MVP

There's a great deal of discussion surrounding how much Justin Verlander has meant to the Detroit Tigers' success this season, but the fact remains: he still appeared in only 34 games. Sure, he helped lead the Tigers to the playoffs and he was a very important part of their success but in my mind, a pitcher has to be off-the-charts dominant (think Pedro Martinez, circa 2000) to be chosen MVP.

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For many fantasy baseball aficionados, the best part of the entire season is the draft. But for those who can't get enough of the draft-day rush, the playoffs present one more opportunity to assemble a team and march to a championship.

There are several ways to bring the thrill of fantasy baseball to the postseason (hmmm, sounds a little backward but stay with me). One website is so into the fantasy postseason that it's part of its name - FantasyPostseason.com.

The concept is similar to regular fantasy baseball with the added variable of trying to get players on teams who will advance deep into the playoffs. With the Phillies and Yankees the presumed front-runners, the top overall picks figure to come from those two teams.

If you're thinking about drafting a fantasy playoff team, who do you take first?

Here's my Postseason Top 10. (Feel free to post your own)

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I usually don't put a whole lot of stock in any fantasy league's projected standings. They're fun to look at, but they're all based on projections anyway and no one really knows how a season will unfold.

Still, it was a little disconcerting to see the team I had just drafted in the NL Tout Wars experts league pegged for 12th place out of 13 teams by our host website.

I had to admit, when I left MLB Advanced Media headquarters in New York that crisp March afternoon, my team certainly didn't look like a championship contender.

TOUT WARS:  Final NL standings

I knew I'd be starting the season without my presumed ace, Zack Greinke, who was out for an undetermined amount of time after breaking a rib over the winter playing basketball. I had gotten stuck with another pitcher I didn't really want in Matt Garza after unsuccessfully trying to push the other owners into paying more.

What I didn't know at the time that one of my cornerstone players on offense, Ryan Zimmerman, was dealing with a strained oblique muscle that would send him to the disabled list in mid-April for the next two months.

So it probably shouldn't have come as a surprise that after the first three weeks, my team was firmly in the league basement -- 14 points behind the team in 12th place.

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First there was Opening Day on a Wednesday. Now there's the Japan Opening Series. ... Why is Major League Baseball making things so difficult for fantasy owners?

MLB has announced that the first games of the 2012 season will take place March 28-29 at the Tokyo Dome in the Japanese capital.

MORE:  Original 2012 MLB schedule

The Japan Series will match the Oakland A's against the Seattle Mariners and will be tied to earthquake and tsunami relief throughout the country. That's a wonderful thing to do, but think of the complications it will cause fantasy owners!

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