The Dodgers are one defeat from elimination in the National League Championship Series after a 4-2 Game 4 loss to the Cardinals, who have a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

The Tigers’ starting pitchers have struck out 45 batters in 29 innings, while only allowing two runs over the past four games. Yet, the Tigers have lost two of those games and find themselves down 2-1 to the Red Sox in the American League Championship Series.

This is as good as it gets. Three games decided by one run. Three games filled with tension and emotion. Three games that have delivered everything we could have hoped for as the Red Sox and Tigers remind us yet again why we love October baseball.

Justin Verlander fanned 10 over eight innings, including a playoff-record-tying six straight, but the Tigers were shut down by John Lackey and the Red Sox bullpen in a 1-0 loss at Comerica Park in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Tuesday.

Hanley Ramirez felt well enough to start Game 4 of the NLCS on Tuesday despite a fractured rib in his left side, but he was removed from the game after six innings.

As the Red Sox look to take a 3-1 lead over the Tigers in Wednesday’s Game 4, it’s impossible to make confident declarations when discussing this nightly barnburner of an ALCS, with the first three games decided by one run.

The Tigers had a few chances to dent the scoreboard in Tuesday’s 1-0 loss in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series, but none more glaring than the eighth inning, when Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder struck out with runners on first and third.

Digging in for his first big league plate appearance in 2006, Mike Napoli homered off Justin Verlander. Seven years later, Napoli has an even better moment to treasure; same ballpark, same opposing pitcher, just the entire baseball world watching. Napoli’s seventh-inning home run accounted for the only run as the Red Sox defeated the Tigers, 1-0, in Game 3 of the ALCS.

Behind the stellar pitching of John Lackey and a clutch homer by Mike Napoli, Boston squeaked out a 1-0 victory over Justin Verlander and the Tigers on Tuesday in Detroit to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series.

Given the difficult task of facing Tigers ace Justin Verlander in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series, veteran John Lackey stole the spotlight in a 1-0 win Tuesday at Comerica Park.

Tigers starter Justin Verlander tied a postseason record Tuesday when he struck out six consecutive hitters in the second and third innings against the Red Sox during Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.

When Jake Peavy was traded to the Red Sox in July, it was moments like this that he was waiting for the most. Peavy is set to take the mound in a crucial Game 4 of the ALCS against Detroit on Wednesday. He has a chance to put Boston in the driver’s seat by securing a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Monday was the 10th anniversary of Steve Bartman’s infamous attempt at a foul ball, the unofficial start of the Marlins’ rally that carried them all the way to the World Series. Tuesday was Miguel Cabrera’s first postseason game without reaching base safely since that 2003 championship run with the Marlins.

Jhonny Peralta started Tuesday’s American League Championship Series Game 3 at shortstop for the second consecutive game behind a second consecutive high-strikeout, low-ground-ball-ratio Tigers pitcher. But once Doug Fister takes the mound for Game 4, airing at 8 p.m. ET on FOX, Jose Iglesias will be back in the lineup.

If the cameras panned only on celebrities throughout a playoff game at Dodger Stadium, there would barely be enough time to actually focus on the action on the field. Game 4 of the NLCS was no exception, with some big names in attendance.

Tigers starting pitchers Anibal Sanchez, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander have a 0.88 ERA with 35 strikeouts and nine walks in 21 innings through three games in the ALCS, but John Lackey’s performance in Boston’s Game 3 win was the latest example of the Red Sox rotation rising to the challenge.

Red Sox manager John Farrell pushed all the right buttons in navigating the treacherous Tigers lineup, calling on three relievers to lock down the final seven outs of Boston’s 1-0 victory over Detroit in the American League Championship Series.