Bleacher Report's 2014 League Championship Series Awards

The ultimate goal of Major League Baseball's postseason is to win the World Series and the Commissioner's Trophy that comes with the title as a tangible representation of being the last team standing.

We're almost at that point, as the American League pennant winners, the long-suffering Kansas City Royals, are set to open the Fall Classic at home against the been-here-done-this San Francisco Giants, who hail from the National League.

Before those two teams battle it out for the trophy every club wants, however, it's time to hand out some league championship-related hardware based on the best of the best across both the ALCS and NLCS that just wrapped.

The envelopes, please...

Statistics are accurate through Oct. 18 and courtesy of MLB.com, Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs, unless otherwise noted.

To talk baseball or fantasy baseball, check in with me on Twitter: @JayCat11.

Top Manager: Bruce Bochy, San Francisco Giants

Royals manager Ned Yost has his critics, but he showed he could guide a team to the World Series with a sweep in a solidly skippered ALCS, which he entered as the clear underdog to Baltimore Orioles boss Buck Showalter.

That said, Bruce Bochy still takes this honor for pushing just about all the right buttons in the San Francisco Giants' five-game series win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Bochy deployed his diverse bullpen aggressively all NLCS long, utilizing everyone from closer Santiago Casilla to lefties Jeremy Affeldt and Javier Lopez to long man Yusmeiro Petit.

The cherry on top came when Bochy called upon Mike Morse to hit for ace Madison Bumgarner with the Giants down a run in the bottom of the eighth in Game 5, only to have the slugger tie it up with a solo shot.

"Once again, Boch seems to have the right touch in the right spot," right-hander Jake Peavy, who spent five seasons with Bochy in San Diego before joining him in San Francisco in July, said via Barry Bloom of MLB.com. "Once again, it's our manager having players in the game in the right spot and at the right time."

Sometimes, a manager can do no wrong.

Best Player on a Losing Team: Jon Jay, OF, St. Louis Cardinals

The best candidates for the Orioles are Andrew Miller (4.0 IP, 1 H, 5:0 K:BB) and Kevin Gausman (4.1 IP, 1 H, 2:1 K:BB), but it's hard to give too much credit to relievers on a losing club.

Instead, let's reward the Cardinals' Jon Jay, who had an LCS-best nine hits, batted .500 and walked more times (two) than he whiffed (one) in his 21 plate appearances over five games.

He didn't do much damage, scoring two runs and driving in only one, in part because he had only one extra-base knock (a double), but Jay was just about the toughest out going.

Most Surprising Performer: Travis Ishikawa, OF, San Francisco Giants

The narrative just writes itself, doesn't it?

Released by the Pittsburgh Pirates early in the season and considering retirement, as Ann Killion of the San Francisco Chronicle writes, Travis Ishikawa found himself starting in left field—an entirely new position for the natural first baseman—in the postseason mainly because of injuries to outfielders Angel Pagan and Morse.

Somehow, the 31-year-old journeyman wound up leading all LCS players with seven RBI and being directly responsible for sending the Giants to the World Series for the third time in five years with a walk-off, series-clinching three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth.

Get out—just like Ishikawa's dramatic long ball.

Best Rookie: Kolten Wong, 2B, St. Louis Cardinals

This is an easy call, as Kolten Wong outperformed all other rookies, including the O's Gausman and fellow second baseman Joe Panik (4-for-22, 1 HR, 3 RBI) of the Giants, by a rather wide margin in this round.

In fact, Wong pushed teammate Jay for the "Best Player on a Losing Team" category by smacking five hits. All of them went for extra bases, including two homers—one of which was a walk-off shot in Game 2— on his way to three runs and four RBI.

Quite a redemptive postseason for Wong, after infamously being picked off first base to end Game 4 of the 2013 World Series with the tying run at the plate.

"You can't let a little thing like getting picked off last year affect you," Wong said, according to Aaron Leibowitz of MLB.com. "Just got to continue to push. I've been like that my whole life. Just pushing through adversity and making sure I don't let anything stop me."

Best Pitcher: Madison Bumgarner, LHP, San Francisco Giants

As if there were a choice other than Bumgarner, who topped all starters in WHIP (0.77) and all pitchers in both innings pitched (15.2) and strikeouts (12) while allowing only three runs on nine hits in two turns.

Oh, and along the way, the lefty established a new postseason record by reaching 26.2 consecutive scoreless innings on the road. No wonder he earned NLCS MVP.

"He's the guy you want out there to start things," Bochy said in his postgame press conference after Bumgarner provided 7.2 shutout innings to pick up the Game 1 win. "He gave us all we were asking. He got us off to a great start with his effort."

Best Reliever: Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis, Greg Holland, RHP, Kansas City Royals

Shout-outs to the O's Miller (again) as well as Yusmeiro Petit of the Giants, who hurled another round of outstanding long-man work (1 W, 3.0 IP, 1 H, 4:1 K:BB in Game 4).

But this one has to go to the Royals' lights-out end-game trio of setup men, Kelvin Herrera (5.2 IP, 2 H, 6:1 K:BB), Wade Davis (2 W, 5.0 IP, 2 H, 6:0 K:BB) and closer Greg Holland, who actually did allow a run but still saved all four ALCS games to become only the second pitcher to do so in the LCS round.

Those three are a huge reason why Kansas City's bullpen posted the best ERA (1.13), WHIP (0.88), strikeouts (15) and opponent OPS (.398) of the final four teams.

"There's no better weapon," Yost said of his flame-throwing bullpen, per Steve Gardner of USA Today Sports.

MVP: Lorenzo Cain, OF, Kansas City Royals

The ALCS MVP is also the overall LCS MVP.

Lorenzo Cain did it all to push the Royals to the World Series, going 8-for-15 (.533), posting the highest OPS (1.255) and most runs scored (five) of all LCS players and even stealing a base. Oh, and let's not forget that he tracked down anything that got anywhere near him in center field.

"I'm just trying to do whatever it takes, get on base, whatever it takes to find a way to help this team win ballgames," Cain said, via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.

Mission accomplished for Cain, who has the hardware—both the real one and this made-up version—to prove it.

Statistics are accurate through Oct. 18 and courtesy of MLB.com, Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs, unless otherwise noted.

To talk baseball or fantasy baseball, check in with me on Twitter: @JayCat11.