It happens so often in sports. A team gets ravaged by injuries or a team falls way behind the playoff race and they lose motivation and don't continue to fight. Just look at the Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Indians this season.
In 2010 the Cincinnati Reds won the NL Central for their first division title since 1995 and just their second NL Central title in team history. With reigning NL MVP Joey Votto leading the charge, the Reds were looking for another division title this season. However, with three of their starting pitchers mising significant time, (Johnny Cueto missed all of April, Edinson Volquez missed almost two months in July and August, and Travis Wood missed all of July) they were unable to recover and lost hope in their season. Entering July the Reds were two games above .500 and were just 2 games behind the NL Central leading Brewers. By the end of the season, the Reds dropped 15 games on the Brewers and were 17 games out of the division lead.
After leading the AL Central for nearly every day for over four months from the beginning of April to Mid-July, the Cleveland Indians were finally surpassed in the division race by the Detroit Tigers. The Indians lost faith in their ability to make a comeback just as the Tigers had previously done to them. On July 10th, the Tigers were .5 games ahead of the Indians. By the end of the season, the Tigers had finished 15 games ahead of the Indians in the AL Central, as the Indians finished the season with a dismal record of 33-40.
The St. Louis Cardinals faced all of these hardships and more. They were struck by countless injuries like the Reds, they fell way behind in the playoff race like the Tigers, and they looked like they were down and out after they miraculous got into the playoffs several times. However, the Cards were able to overcome all of these difficulties and showed that you should never say never.
Injuries hit the Cardinals right away. With Chris Carpenter entering his 14th MLB season and beginning to age and the Cards not having much depth in their pitching staff, they were rallying on ace Adam Wainwright to have a huge season. The 30 year old was entering the prime of his career as well. However, before the season even began, it was announced that Wainwright would have to get Tommy John Surgery on his right elbow and that he would miss the entire 2011 season. The Cardinals realized the loss of Wainwright was a major one. Form 2009 to 2010, Wainwright had more wins than any other pitcher in the NL with 19 in 2009 and 20 in 2010. In 2010 he ranked 3rd in the NL in innings pitched, 3rd in WHIP, 4th in strikeouts, and 2nd in ERA. Those impressive numbers landed Wainwright a 2nd place finish on the NL Cy Young ballot after he had previously finished 3rd in 2009. Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said, "You're losing an ace. It's not something you can replace overnight."
Unlike the Reds, the Cardinals maintained their fighting spirit even after Wainwright went down before the season. Kyle Lohse said, "That's a big guy to miss. We still got to go out there and play. Nobody is going to fell sorry for us. We still have to go out there do our jobs." Although you can't replace a guy like Wainwright, the Cards still fought hard every day no matter who was pitching and got great contributions form their entire staff.
Jamie Garcia backed up his impressive rookie campaign with another solid year and didn't suffer the usually second year slump like Jason Hayward. Garcia's 3.56 ERA was the 6th best among lefties in the NL. In his 13th season in the MLB, Kyle Lohse had his best year. He had 14 wins, only the 4th time he has had double digit wins in his career, to go along with a 1.17 WHIP, a career best, and a 3.39 ERA, also a career best. From 2007 to 2010, Jake Westbrook had a record of 27-33. In 2011, Westbrook posted a 12-9 mark, his most wins since 2006 when he went 15-10 with the Cleveland Indians. Kyle McClellan, who was forced to fill the 5th spot in the rotation from April to July before the Cards acquired Edwin Jackson, did a magnificent job especially since he had never made an MLB start before 2011. In fact, McClellan began 2011 with a 5-0 record through 7 starts and had an ERA of 3.30. Although Chris Carpenter didn't have his best season, he was unbelievable in September. In his last 5 starts in September, Carpenter was 3-0 with an ERA of 1.28 and let up a total of 5 runs. In those 5 games, Carpenter had 2 shutouts including one on the final day of the season in a 8-0 victory over the Astros to clinch the Wild Card for the Cards. The real key behind the success in the Cardinals staff was their durability, which was so vital with their lack of starting pitching depth. Carpenter, Westbrook, Garcia, and Lohse all started at least 30 games.
Aside from getting over all of the injuries, the Cardinals made one of the most memorable comebacks in MLB history to just reach the postseason. On August 25th the Cardinals were 10.5 games behind the NL Wild Card leading Atlanta Braves. They weren't even the second place team in the Wild Card race, as the Giants were a full game ahead of them. On September 6th the Cardinals were 8.5 games outside of the Wild Card lead. Although the Cards could have lost hope several times during their comeback, they continued to play hard baseball. When the Cards were playing the Mets on September 22nd, they were leading 6-2 entering the top of the 9th and were 3 outs away from closing the Braves wild card lead to 1 game. However, the Mets scored 6 runs in the 9th to win their first game when trailing by 4 runs in the 9th inning since 2007. The loss was a devastating one for the Cardinals because they went from 1 game out with 6 to play to 2 games out with 6 to play. However, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said after the game, "Don't make a mistake and say we're heartbroken. Our heart's beating. We won the series, get ready for tomorrow." The Cards didn't seem to lose hope after the loss, as they finished their 22-9 stretch with a 4-2 run to end the season, while the Braves lost their final 5 games including a 4-3 battle with the Phillies in 13 innings on the final day of the season to give the Cardinals the NL Wild Card. The Cardinals became the first team in MLB history to make the playoffs after trailing a playoff spot by at least 8 games in September. Just getting into the playoffs showed the Cardinals resilience and their never die attitude.
If the Cardinals had bowed out to the Phillies in the NLDS, nobody have would faulted them. After the Rays completed their 9 game comeback over the Red Sox in September to reach the playoffs, they fell in 4 games to the Texas Rangers. The Cards spent a tremendous amount of energy just reaching the playoffs and they were facing a terrific Phillies ball club, which had won 102 games, their most in franchise history. However, the Cards once again refused to go down. After losing 11-6 in game 1, the Cards were on the brink of facing a deep 2-0 hole, as they fell behind 4-0 on the Phillies after just 2 innings. In many fans eyes with Cliff Lee on the mound, the game was over. Lee had a sub .100 ERA in the months of August and September and in his 10-year MLB career, he had never lost a regular season game, where he was leading by 4 runs. However, the Cards scored 3 runs in the 4th and then 1 run in the 6th and 7th to knock Cliff Lee out of the game after 5 earned runs and give the Cards a 5-4 victory. Even when the Cards seemed to be given no chance with the best pitcher in baseball Roy Halladay pitching against them in a decisive game 5 in Philly, Chris Carpenter pitched a shutout to send the Cards to the NLCS after a narrow 1-0 victory.
Looking back at the Cardinals season and how they fought and clawed for everything and were nearly down and out so many times, the way they won the World Series was only fitting. Game 6 of the World Series summarized the Cards season. Nearly down and out in the 9th and 10th inning, the Cardinals managed to somehow survive and win the game in the 11th. Trailing 7-5 in the 9th inning with 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd, the Cards were not only down to their last out, but they were down to their last strike. However, David Freese took a 1-2 fastball the other way from Neftali Feliz and banged it off of the right field wall over the head of Nelson Cruz to send Pujols and Berkman home and to tie the game up at 7. But in the top of the 10th the Rangers seemed to be on their way to winning their first World Series in franchise history after Josh Hamilton hit a two run home run off of Jason Motte to give the Rangers another 2 run lead. However, we've already seen this story before though. The Cards seem to have no chance but then suddenly fight their way back into the game. After scoring one run earlier in the 10th, Lance Berkman hit a single into center field after being down to his last strike to tie the game for the Cards once again. They were not to be denied and in the 11th, Freese came up again and hit a walk-off home run to center field that sent the series to a decisive game 7. In game 7, the Cards completed their miraculous run to a World Series with a 6-2 victory and sent Tony La Russa off in a good note.
The Cards were a team of destiny.
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