Major League Baseball's World Series begins Saturday with the Detroit Tigers hosting the St. Louis Cardinals.
The best-of-seven game championship features two underdog teams without titles since the early 1980s.
Two rookie pitchers will face off in the opening game of the 102nd World Series. Twenty-three-year-old Justin Verlander will be on the mound for Detroit against the Cardinals' Anthony Reyes, who just turned 25.
The Tigers and Cardinals limped into the playoffs with losing records in the final weeks of the regular season after strong starts. Both came on strong in the playoffs.
The wildcard Tigers have won seven straight games, sweeping the Oakland Athletics to win the American League title after beating the legendary New York Yankees in the first round of the playoffs.
The Cardinals had a tougher time, needing a ninth-inning home run to beat the New York Mets in a deciding seventh game of the National League Championship series. St. Louis downed the favored San Diego Padres in the first round.
The Tigers lost an American League record 119 games three seasons ago, and did not have a winning season since 1993 until this year when they won 95 games against 67 losses.
The Cardinals, who suffered key injuries, won just 83 games in the regular season against 78 losses.
Detroit and St. Louis have met twice before in the World Series. The Tigers won in seven games in 1968, while the Cardinals won the 1934 series, also in seven games.
Some information for this report provided by Reuters.