For a team having just won the World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals seem to have just as many skeptics now as they did coming into the postseason. Perhaps what the Cardinals deserve is credit for receiving baseball’s highest honor and shocking the world in the process. Their achievement should be no surprise to anyone, as no one better demonstrated team effort and the will to win than the Cardinals.
The Cardinals came into the playoffs sporting a record of 83-78 and winning the division title on the last day of the regular season. What perhaps the rest of the world overlooked is the fact that the Cardinals opened the season on fire, but slowed after losing pitchers Mark Mulder and Jason Isringhausen, center fielder Jim Edmonds, and shortstop David Eckstein to injuries.
Nonetheless, the remnants of a team that won 100 games each of the past three seasons under the brilliance of manager Tony LaRussa remained, and the Cards found their way into the playoffs. Realistically, all they needed was an opportunity, as last year’s MVP Albert Pujols claimed.
After all, success in October is about a team coming together and playing great baseball as different players step up in each game. Perhaps being counted out is exactly what St. Louis needed in comparison to the last three years in which they stormed into the playoffs as heavy favorites yet fell short of the World Series title each time.
So, as underdogs, the Cards were picked to lose considerably in each round, which surprised me a little bit. However, all that stood in the way of the Cardinals, after beating the Padres in four games, and defeating the “mighty” New York Mets in seven, was the Detroit Tigers. While the Cards continued to surprise others, their success made perfect sense to me. A team that has prided itself on pitching and defense year in and year out continued to find ways to win, and it was more of the same in the World Series.
The Cardinals beat the Tigers in five games and captured the World Series title for the 10th time in team history, silencing all of their critics. Even with the title in hand, people have dismissed the Cardinals as lucky, and I could go on forever defending the reasons why that is absurd, but lucky for me I don’t have to, because they won the World Series, period. Not one person can take anything away from the Cardinal fans or any member of the St. Louis Cardinals because they are the champions and are on top of the baseball world.
