This American League Championship Series was billed as a showdown that would be highlighted by starting pitching, and it delivered on that promise. But the Red Sox bullpen had no intention of being left out of the fun.

Red Sox players, coaches and front-office staff reveled in the club’s third World Series berth in 10 years on Saturday night after Game 6’s 5-2 victory over the Tigers at Fenway Park.

With the Tigers poised to break Saturday’s Game 6 open in the sixth inning, Prince Fielder got caught in a rally-killing double play, the latest miscue in the slugger’s subpar playoff performance. But he’s not going to look back on falling short of the World Series.

There were ALCS games the Tigers should have won, pitcher Max Scherzer said. But he and his Detroit teammates preferred to give credit to the Red Sox after a 5-2 loss in Game 6 on Saturday night.

Drawing two walks on Saturday for the second time during the Red Sox’s playoff run, Xander Bogaerts, who turned 21 on the first day of October, became the youngest person to do so twice in a single postseason. It was just his 14th Major League start.

Max Scherzer and Alex Avila thought they had strike three on Red Sox rookie Xander Bogaerts in the seventh inning. Instead, Bogaerts walked, ending Scherzer’s night and helping to extend Boston’s game-winning rally.

Red Sox closer Koji Uehara was named the American League Championship Series Most Valuable Player after picking up his third save of the series and punching Boston’s ticket to the World Series in Game 6 on Saturday night.

In opposition of the warped significance of regular-season standings wrought by the Wild Card era, this 2013 World Series matchup is a reminder of what once was. The St. Louis Cardinals won 97 games this season, the best team in the National League. The Boston Red Sox won 97 games, the best team in the American League. This sort of thing never seems to happen anymore.

The signing of Shane Victorino, a talented and scrappy veteran with a work ethic larger than his star power, epitomized the Red Sox’s offseason reshaping, so it was only appropriate that he hit the grand slam that propelled the club to an improbable World Series berth one year after finishing in the AL East cellar.

With a 5-2 win over the Tigers on Saturday night, the Red Sox claimed the American League pennant and set up their fourth World Series meeting against the Cardinals, who dispatched the Dodgers one night earlier. The best-of-seven Fall Classic will open at Fenway Park on Wednesday night (6:30 p.m. CT air time, 7:07 p.m. CT first pitch on FOX).

Red Sox manager John Farrell addresses the media after Game 6 of the American League Championship Series.

The Cardinals’ World Series matchup vs. the Red Sox marks the first time since 1999 that the two teams with the best regular-season records in their leagues will meet to decide it all. But this is how Major League Baseball once operated on a routine basis.

Right-hander Max Scherzer recorded Detroit’s 52nd strikeout by a starting pitcher in the American League Championship Series on Saturday night to set a new postseason series record.

The replay review confirmed what the Fenway crowd had feared: Dustin Pedroia’s Carlton Fisk moment wasn’t to be. In the third inning of Game 6 in the ALCS, Pedroia smashed a towering shot to left, well over the Green Monster. If it was a homer, it would’ve scored three off Tigers starter Max Scherzer, who winced at the ball’s flight path.

The Dropkick Murphys, a local rock band known for two prominent songs in Red Sox lore, performed the national anthem and “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” for a raucous Fenway Park crowd prior to Saturday night’s American League Championship Series Game 6 matchup between Boston and Detroit.

Led by Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, a contingent of Phoenix dignitaries — including D-backs representatives — visited Guadalajara, the second-largest city in Mexico, on a trade mission and protocol visit.

The Dodgers have a manager, his coaching staff, 12 free agents and a couple high-priced contract extensions to resolve in the coming months, not to mention the occasional front-office reassignments that sometimes fly under the radar.