ST. LOUIS -- Nelson Cruz earned MVP honors by hitting a pair of home runs to carry the Texas Rangers to a 6-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals and clinch the 2011 Simulated World Series title in six games.

BOX SCORE:  Rangers 6, Cardinals 3

GAME SUMMARY:  Cruz, Lewis star in clincher

Colby Lewis shut the Cardinals offense out for the first five innings as Cruz and his teammates went to work on Cards left-hander Jaime Garcia.

Cruz hit a two-run homer off Garcia into the right-center field seats to give the Rangers a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning (screenshot, below). He came back in the sixth with a solo blast to almost the exact spot off reliever Octavio Dotel to increase the lead to 6-0.

Lewis (2-0 in the series) began to tire in the sixth when the Cardinals scored their only runs on a double by Albert Pujols, a single by Lance Berkman and a monster 478-foot homer by Matt Holliday.

The Rangers bullpen kept the Cards quiet the rest of the way, with closer Neftali Feliz nailing down the game and the Series with a scoreless ninth.

Cruz earned MVP honors by going 7-for-21 (.333) in the series with three home runs and six RBI. He also had plenty of help from Michael Young (.417), Elvis Andrus (.321) and Josh Hamilton (.304, HR, 5 RBI).

What to watch for in the real Game 6

-- The Rangers were very good against left-handed pitching during the regular season. Cruz hit .340 with a .700 slugging percentage. Adrian Beltre hit .315 and slugged .685. Mike Napoli hit .319 with a .619 slugging percentage. Michael Young hit .361 and slugged .500. It's hard to keep all of those hitters from doing damage, which is what Jamie Garcia is tasked to do in a must-win situation for St. Louis.

-- As he does against right-handers, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa will flip Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman in the batting order so that Berkman hits fourth and Holliday fifth against Colby Lewis. The switch-hitting Berkman is stronger against righties and figures to provide better protection for Albert Pujols than the struggling Holliday.

However, Ron Washington has made it a point to pitch around Pujols in the real series with repeated intentional walks. From a strategic point of view, that's a foolish approach to take because both Berkman and Holliday are considerably above-average hitters. Putting Pujols on base in front of those two, even in the hope of setting up a double play, is bound to backfire.

-- Speaking of intentional walks, one questionable decision by La Russa in Game 5 was to have Octavio Dotel give Nelson Cruz a free pass with a runner on second and one out in the fateful eighth inning because that matchup is actually a very good one for the Cardinals.

Dotel is a strikeout pitcher, especially against right-handed batters, who had a .198 on-base percentage against him during the regular season. Meanwhile, Dotel struck out 45 of the 130 right-handed batters he faced (35%).

Of course, in Game 1 and again in Game 6 of the Sim Series, Cruz hit home runs against Dotel, despite his .243 average against right-handed pitching in 2011. However, the odds are overwhelmingly in the Cardinals' favor should the matchup occur in the real Game 6.

-- The Rangers will alter their lineup for Game 6 by starting Craig Gentry in center field and moving Josh Hamilton to left. Although Gentry has better range, especially with Hamilton's sore groin, Hamilton has the better throwing arm. Gentry did make a couple of nice catches in center in Sim Series Game 6 that perhaps Hamilton may not have reached.

Previous results

Game 1: Cardinals 9, Rangers 4

Game 2: Rangers 9, Cardinals 3

Game 3: Rangers 7, Cardinals 4

Game 4: Cardinals 8, Rangers 3

Game 5: Rangers 6, Cardinals 2

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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 -- C.J. Wilson provided the clutch start and the Texas Rangers backed him with timely hitting in a 6-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals to push Texas one win away from the title in the 2011 Simulated World Series.

Wilson outpitched the Cardinals' Chris Carpenter in their pivotal Game 5 rematch, allowing just one run and four hits in 5 2/3 innings, to get the win and avenge his defeat at the hands of Carpenter in the opener.

BOX SCORE:  Rangers 6, Cardinals 2

GAME SUMMARY:  Injuries, ejections add to wild game

Josh Hamilton had three hits, including his first home run of the series in the first inning that gave Texas an early lead. The Rangers also got big hits with men on base, going 6-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

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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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