The Detroit Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals are no strangers to the Championship Series round in the MLB playoffs.

After Justin Verlander and the Tigers took care of business on Thursday night to advance to the next round, it marked the second consecutive year that we'll be seeing the Tigers and Cardinals in the ALCS and NLCS. As Detroit faced elimination earlier in the series, the team rallied to win the final two games.

Verlander tossed eight scoreless innings and allowed only two hits while striking out ten in the process. The right-hander never gave up a hit until the sixth inning.

"I wake up and the only thing I'm thinking about is my game plan and visualizing and executing," Verlander said. "Once you get to the park, it goes into a different mode. All the nerves and angst starts to build, and I've been here before, there is nothing you can do about it. You've got to hone it to your advantage"

It was a tight game in the early going as both teams failed to score for the first three innings. The Tigers tacked on two in the fourth and another in the sixth and that was all that was needed. Verlander kept the A's at bay before Joaquin Benoit came in for the save and locked down the game, sending the Tigers to the next round.

As great as the pitching staff was for Detroit, the win would not have been possible without the offensive output by star Miguel Cabrera. After hitting .348 in the regular season with a whopping 44 homers, Cabrera launched a two-run shot in the fourth inning to put the Tigers up once and for all.

As Detroit moves on to the next round, things will only become more difficult. The Tigers will have to face the Red Sox, a squad in the midst of a fascinating worst-to-first season.