The 2006 St. Louis Cardinals had the fewest wins of any Fall Classic winner. They outscored the opposition just 83 times in 162 regular season games. Oh, and they had a tremendous uphill battle from there in the postseason.
The San Diego Padres were the first team to face the wrath of the Cards. The Padres had five more wins in the regular season. But in the National League Division Series, it was St. Louis' arms that carried them through a four game triumph (One loss). The Cardinals held the Padres to 0, 1, and 2 runs in the three games they won. Amazingly enough, in their one loss, it was the Cards with just one run themselves. Pitching made the difference each game.
Next came the New York Mets, who must have been the favourites. They won 97 games themselves. And speaking of pitching, right there at home in game one, was a 2-0 Met win. This was not going to be easy for the Cardinals.
St. Louis won a wild second game, 9-6, then took two of three at home. They needed just a win in game six or seven to advance to the World Series. Another good pitching performance helped St. Louis win game six, 3-1. It was on to the Fall Classic.
There, they met Detroit. Just like in 1934 and 1968. But this one was not going seven. The Tigers had won 95 games, the Cardinals were a team of destiny. They'd lost the Fall Classic to Boston in four games in 2004, and weren't about to waste their opportunity to win it here.
The Cards won the first game in Tigerland, 7-2. Maybe this would be easy...
Well, scratch that thought. Detroit got a great pitching performance from Kenny Rogers in game two, as the veteran had St. Louis in his pocket all night. The 3-1 Detroit win sent it to St. Louis for games three, four and five. But the Tigers didn't realize there would be no return trip to Detroit for the World Series of 2006.
St. Louis greeted them rudely with a resounding 5-0 blanking in game three. Chris Carpernter and Braden Looper combined on a three-hitter for the Cardinals. If the Detroit Tigers did not get the message at this point...
Well, they sure did in the crucial game four. The Bengals got off to a 3-0 lead early. It was up to the Cards to come back, which they did. St. Louis had no intentions of going back to Detroit for games six and seven. It would have been tough to pull off under those circumstances. The Cardinals scratched out a run in the bottom of the third, another in the next inning. Two in the seventh put them ahead. After Detroit tied it in the top of the eighth, St. Louis scored the game's final run in the bottom of the frame.
Justin Verlander pitched well for the visitors in game five, but it was the home team pulling out a 4-2 win behind Jeff Weaver. The Fall Classic was St. Louis' even with just those 83 triumphs in the regular season. They'd won all the big games in the regular season. And continued on that path in the postseason!
References
Retrosheet. Web. 18 Sept., 2015. <www.retrosheet.org>.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 18 Sept. 2015.
The San Diego Padres were the first team to face the wrath of the Cards. The Padres had five more wins in the regular season. But in the National League Division Series, it was St. Louis' arms that carried them through a four game triumph (One loss). The Cardinals held the Padres to 0, 1, and 2 runs in the three games they won. Amazingly enough, in their one loss, it was the Cards with just one run themselves. Pitching made the difference each game.
Next came the New York Mets, who must have been the favourites. They won 97 games themselves. And speaking of pitching, right there at home in game one, was a 2-0 Met win. This was not going to be easy for the Cardinals.
St. Louis won a wild second game, 9-6, then took two of three at home. They needed just a win in game six or seven to advance to the World Series. Another good pitching performance helped St. Louis win game six, 3-1. It was on to the Fall Classic.
There, they met Detroit. Just like in 1934 and 1968. But this one was not going seven. The Tigers had won 95 games, the Cardinals were a team of destiny. They'd lost the Fall Classic to Boston in four games in 2004, and weren't about to waste their opportunity to win it here.
The Cards won the first game in Tigerland, 7-2. Maybe this would be easy...
Well, scratch that thought. Detroit got a great pitching performance from Kenny Rogers in game two, as the veteran had St. Louis in his pocket all night. The 3-1 Detroit win sent it to St. Louis for games three, four and five. But the Tigers didn't realize there would be no return trip to Detroit for the World Series of 2006.
St. Louis greeted them rudely with a resounding 5-0 blanking in game three. Chris Carpernter and Braden Looper combined on a three-hitter for the Cardinals. If the Detroit Tigers did not get the message at this point...
Well, they sure did in the crucial game four. The Bengals got off to a 3-0 lead early. It was up to the Cards to come back, which they did. St. Louis had no intentions of going back to Detroit for games six and seven. It would have been tough to pull off under those circumstances. The Cardinals scratched out a run in the bottom of the third, another in the next inning. Two in the seventh put them ahead. After Detroit tied it in the top of the eighth, St. Louis scored the game's final run in the bottom of the frame.
Justin Verlander pitched well for the visitors in game five, but it was the home team pulling out a 4-2 win behind Jeff Weaver. The Fall Classic was St. Louis' even with just those 83 triumphs in the regular season. They'd won all the big games in the regular season. And continued on that path in the postseason!
References
Neft,
David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St.
Martin's Press, 1992. Print.
Nemec, David et all. 20th Century Baseball Chronicle: A Year-by-year History of Major League
Baseball. Collector's Edition. Lincolnwood, Ill: Publications
International, 1993. Print.
Retrosheet. Web. 18 Sept., 2015. <www.retrosheet.org>.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 18 Sept. 2015.
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