In the 2010 NLCS against Philadelphia, Rentería reclaimed a starting role when he started four games (the Giants benched third baseman Pablo Sandoval and shifted Uribe to third base). He only had one hit in the series, but he scored the winning run in the Giants' 3–0 victory in Game 3, and he retained the starting job in the World Series. In Game 2 of the series, against the Texas Rangers, he broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning when he homered off C. J. Wilson to give the Giants a 1–0 lead. He later added a two-run single in the eighth inning as the Giants won 9–0. Before Game 5, with the Giants leading the series 3–1, Rentería joked with teammate Andrés Torres that he was going to hit a home run. In the seventh inning, with runners at second and third, two outs, and no score, Rentería hit a three-run home run off Rangers' pitcher Cliff Lee that won the series for the Giants. The feat made him only the fourth player to have two series-winning hits in history, along with Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, and Lou Gehrig. For his contributions, he was named the 2010 World Series Most Valuable Player, making him the first player from Colombia to achieve this feat. The Giants declined his option on November 5, but Rentería did announce that he planned to play in 2011. The Giants did offer him a one-year, $1 million contract as a utility player, but Rentería declined.