The hottest team in baseball is headed to the World Series.

The Cardinals again battered Brewers pitching early and often in a 12-6 victory over Milwaukee Sunday to clinch the National League Championship Series.

As has been the case all series, the Cardinals got on the board right away against Milwaukee starter Shaun Marcum, who had been horribly ineffective in his two previous postseason starts.

Marcum came into the game having allowed 12 runs in 8.2 innings of postseason work. He retired Rafael Furcal to open the game but quickly reverted to the same form he showed over much of the last six weeks and gave up four runs, three of them on David Freese's home run.

Freese went 3-for-4 with three runs, three RBIs and a home run, an effort that secured Most Valuable Player honors for the NLCS. In the series, Freese hit .500 with three doubles, three home runs, nine RBIs and seven runs scored.

Milwaukee got one back on Corey Hart's leadoff homer in the first, but Marcum wouldn't return for the second inning. He gave way to Chris Narveson, who struck out his first two batters before giving up a solo home run to Rafael Furcal to make it 5-1 St. Louis.

The Brewers quickly fought back, cutting it to 5-2 when Rickie Weeks homered off St. Louis starter Edwin Jackson to open the inning. Jonathan Lucroy's two-run shot made it a one-run game but St. Louis quickly restored the lead by scoring four more in the third, sparked by Albert Pujols' leadoff home run.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa turned to his bullpen in the third inning and as they have all series long, the St. Louis relievers kept the game well out of the Brewers' reach, allowing just two runs on three hits over the final six innings.

The story for the Brewers was the same as it's been all series; bad pitching, bad defense and an offense that appeared over-matched. The Brewers' middle-of-the-order batters – Braun, Fielder and Weeks – combined to go 1-for-12 Sunday, with only Weeks' second inning home run to show for it.

In likely his final game as a member of the Brewers, Fielder went 0-for-4 and finished the postseason batting just .196. He grounded out to second base to lead off the eighth inning and walked back to the dugout to a standing ovation from the Miller Park crowd of 43,926.

Both Fielder and Pujols are free agents after this season.

The Cardinals advance to the World Series for the third time in eight seasons and will face the American League Champion Texas Rangers Wednesday in Game 1 at Busch Stadium.