2011 World Series: Why the St. Louis Cardinals Were the Most Resilient Team Ever

It was the best World Series in a decade. It featured arguably the greatest game ever, and it featured the best offensive performance ever. It was a World Series for the ages. Much of the rhetoric around it has been the Rangers' failures. Make no mistake about it—the Cardinals won this series, the Rangers did not lose it. 

The Cardinals were so resilient. They just simply refused to lose. Sure, there were some things that were beyond their control that had to happen to get where they needed to, but they maximized the things that were in their control, and that's why they were the ones celebrating after the last out in Game 7. 

Consider the historic trek they had to make to get there. Before the season even started, the Cardinals were getting written off. I distinctly remember the reports in spring training. Adam Wainwright, the Cardinals ace was done for the year. Literally, the reports were accompanied with proclamations that there was "no way they can compete without him." 

Then, the one player, the "Machine," the man who never slumped, ever...slumped. Albert Pujols had the worst month of his career. Ryan Franklin had an absolute meltdown. Matt Holliday had appendicitis. It was going to be a season that the Cardinals couldn't even compete for the postseason much less in the postseason. 

It was a team that struggled through a horrendous bullpen and a litany of injuries. Holliday, Pujols and Lance Berkman, who was the comeback player of the year, took turns being injured. David Freese looked to break out, but broke his hand instead. It was a turbulent summer. 

Come the end of August, it was time to cash things in, but these Cardinals would NOT quit. They would NOT go away. They made the right trades and they got healthy. 

No team had ever trailed by more than 10 games with 30 left and made the postseason. The Cardinals became the first, going 22-8 over their last 30, and swept the team they were chasing in the process. That was just to get to the playoffs. 

Once they got to the postseason, they had to face the Philadelphia Phillies and what many considered to be the greatest rotation in history. They were the team of destiny. They were the team that inevitably was bound to win the World Series this year. 

The Cardinals refused to submit to the Phillies' destiny though, and they out-aced the aces. In the decisive fifth game, the Cardinals ace, Chris Carpenter, squared off in a pitcher's duel for the ages. Carpenter, in what is, at least statistically speaking (based on Game Score), the best pitched game in a deciding game in MLB history, out-dueled his best friend Roy Halladay in a 1-0 shutout. 

Having out-aced the aces, the Cardinals came up against the Milwaukee Brewers. With the "Monster Mash" attitude, the Brewers were the new team of destiny. Now they were the team that was inevitably going to win the World Series. 

Milwaukee had the best home record in the game, and there was no way they were going to lose. Again, the prognosticators predicted a Cardinals loss. Five, maybe six games at most, they said, but the Brewers would win. 

It wasn't to be the case though, as the Cardinals out-mashed the mashers. They took three of four in Milwaukee and it was the Cardinals who were celebrating in Milwaukee when it was all said and done. 

Then they came to the Rangers, the team who had lost the World Series the year before. Now the Rangers were the team of destiny. Now they were the team that was inevitably going to win the World Series. They just had too many bats.

With the likes of Mike Napoli, Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre and Nelson Cruz, they were unbeatable. Cruz was breaking out, but David Freese was just having a fluke hot streak we were told. The only real debate wasn't about who would win, but it was about how many games it would take the Rangers to win. 

Then the Rangers lost Game 1 in a pitcher's duel. Some pointed to the trend that whatever team won Game 1 won the World Series more than 61 percent of the time. Clearly, this was part of the 39 percent we were told. The Rangers would get the split in St. Louis. 

And they did. Taking the home field away from the Cardinals was going to be too much for the Red Birds to recover from. The Cards were the best road team in baseball though. They weren't going to go away that easily. On the shoulders, or should I say just off the shoulders, in the area of Albert Pujols' bat, the Cards took Game 3. 

Pujols had a game that "huge" only aspires to be. Pujols had a three-home-run, five-hit, six-RBI, 14-total-base game, arguably the single most productive game in the history of the World Series. 

The Rangers took Game 4. The Rangers took Game 5. The talking heads confirmed that it was a nice run, but the better team was going to inevitably win. We were reminded over and over again that this team was just "too deep" and they were the "better team." 

Then came Game 6. It was a microcosm, a synecdoche of the Cardinals season. It was filled with mistakes and errors—three of them—in the beginning. In baseball, as in life though, it's not how you start, it's how you finish. 

They. Just. Would. Not. Quit. Ever. 

Five times the Cardinals trailed. Five times the Cardinals evened the score. The last two they were a strike (a strike!) away from losing. 

The first time, David Freese, the hometown hero, tripled home the game-tying runs. 

Then Josh Hamilton decided it was time to put all this silliness to rest. He came out, and with his best swing of the series, delivered the ball out of the park—to any reasonable person watching, the Rangers were headed for a World Series win.

The Cardinals didn't care though. It just meant another comeback. Lance Berkman took his turn in the hero's box, and singled home two runs to tie it again in the bottom of the 10th.

Again, there was the strange symbolism involved. Albert Pujols had led off the unlikely comebacks, being the first player to get on base in the ninth, and the first player to score. He was walked in the 10th, and Lance Berkman made them pay for doing so. 

Then they had their youth to give them that last extra push, even when that last extra push is a game-tying triple or a game-winning home run. 

When Game 7 came along and the Rangers took a 2-0 lead, did anyone really believe that was going to be it?

There was so much about the Rangers needing to jump off to an early lead, and that if they did they could set the tone for the game. In a strange way, it did. The Cardinals came back and scored two runs in the bottom of the first frame.

It was as if the Rangers felt like, "We saw this movie last night, and we didn't like and we don't want to see it again."

It seemed like Chris Carpenter just stood up and told his arm, "YOU ARE RESTED," and made it cooperate. The Rangers did not score again. In fact, they didn't even get to third base again after the second inning.

Game 7 was never in doubt after Freese put the Cards on top in the third. It was as though from the start the Cardinals were going to put the icing on the cake they'd been baking since August. 

No, this was not the 2006 Cardinals. That team backed their way into the postseason and then turned things around. This was a team that forced their way into the postseason. They were a team of destiny because they made destiny submit to their collective will. 

This was not a bad team who monopolized on opportunities. They out-pitched the best staff, they took three of four from the best home team, and they out-slugged the best offense in the Rangers. No, the Cardinals went through the best of the best to be the best. They won their ring. 

Did they catch some breaks? Sure, but everyone catches breaks. The difference between this team and the other 29 teams in baseball is that they maximized on every break that came their way. They were not a team of destiny, they were a team that owned destiny.

There are those who are going to be questioning what the Rangers did, or whether Nelson Cruz should have made that catch. Forget about all that. You can "if' and "but" this thing to death, but if "ifs and buts were candy and nuts we'd all have a Merry Christmas," as Don Meredith once said. 

Don't take away this story from the Cardinals. They won it. Again and again, they kept coming back. They may not have been the best team in MLB history, but you could make a case they are the most resilient. Don't let this be a story about anything else.