The Improbable Redbirds

Image via WikipediaThe St. Louis Cardinals this season have been down, but never out.  They got into the post-season as a National League wild card on the final day of the regular season after the Atlanta Braves blew a 7 1/2 game advantage--a feat exceeded only by the Boston Red Sox' epic meltdown, handing the Tampa Bay Rays its American League wild card.  After that, the Cardinals took care of Philadelphia and Milwaukee, in that order.

Now the Cardinals are world champions for the 11th time, defeating the Texas Rangers in Game 7 of the World Series 6-2 at Busch Stadium.  It was an anti-climatic game compared to what else happened in this series that'll go down in the history books.  Three examples:

• The Cardinals' Albert Pujols hit three home runs in Game 3, becoming the first non-New York Yankee to do so (the others were Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson).  This could also be Pujols' St. Louis swansong, as he will soon test the waters of free agency.
• Manager Tony LaRussa sent the wrong relief pitcher to the mound in Game 5, which ended in a Rangers' victory.  Then LaRussa blames it on the noise at the Rangers' Ballpark at Arlington, meaning he couldn't hear his pitching coach on the landline phone.  Maybe Major League Baseball needs to realize it's 2011, and install special mobile phones in the dugouts.
• Game 6, won by the Cardinals 10-9 in 11 innings, was not the most artistic game ever played (five errors by both teams), but it did have one of the most dramatic finishes to rival other famous Game Sixes.  Twice the Cardinals came back from two-run deficits in the late innings to tie the game.  Twice did David Freese save his hometown team's bacon with timely hits, including an 11th-inning home run that puts him in the Game 6 pantheon with Carlton Fisk and Kirby Puckett.  For that, Freese was rewarded with the World Series' MVP award.

Up until Games 6 and 7, the ratings on Fox had been abysmal because neither of these teams are the Yankees, Red Sox or Philadelphia Phillies, the only teams that seem to matter in baseball any more.  Why, to most of America, the Rangers were the Texas Strangers.  But as this World Series proved, you don't need to be from New York or Boston with billions of dollars' worth of talent to put on an exciting show for the nation, whether you're a baseball fan or not.  All the St. Louis Cardinals had to do was to ride a hot streak from out of nowhere to the summit of baseball, and take its fans along for the ride.