A historic run by the St. Louis Cardinals ends with a World Series Title

With an improbable, miraculous and outstanding season, the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series.  This resilient Cardinals team was the ultimate "Cinderella Story" this year.  The Cardinals came out of nowhere just to make the postseason, and now they are the World Champions.

This magical run started back on Aug  25.  There were 30 games left in the season, and they were 10½ games behind the Atlanta Braves for the National League Wild Card.  Nearly everyone had already written these Cardinals off, but they were not ready to lie down and give up.  

They had an incredible month in September and won the Wild Card on the last game of the regular season.  This was the largest comeback in the history of Major League Baseball (MLB).

The Cardinals then went on to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers to win the National League Pennant and faced the Texas Rangers in the World Series.

The climax of this impossible run had to be the 9th 10th and 11th innings in Game six.  Twice, in the 9th and 10th innings, the St. Louis Cardinals were down two runs and down to their final strike.  Twice these perseverant Cardinals scored two runs to tie the game (another MLB record).  They capped off these comebacks in the 9th and 10th innings with a David Freese walk-off home run in the 11th.

The Cardinals then, after allowing two runs in the first inning, came back once again in game seven to win their 11th world title.  The 2011 St. Louis Cardinals portrayed a great story and showed that, with a "never quit" resilient mentality, anything is possible.

This wasn't just another World Series. This series was possibly one of the greatest of all time.  Four out of the seven games ended within two runs.  Game three was a 16-7 slugfest with Albert Pujols belting three homeruns.  And game six was arguably the greatest World Series game in the history of the MLB.

David Freese was named the MVP, and it was well deserved for his performance in game six and game seven, but there were so many other heroes for the Cardinals that are worth noting.  

Allen Craig had a crucial late game pinch hit single in game one and game two.  Albert Pujols hit a record-tying three home runs in game three.  Chris Carpenter pitched thre games in the series without a loss.  And lastly, Lance Berkman batted in the two runs in the 10th inning of game six and had an amazing batting average of .423 during the World Series with five RBIs (Runs Batted In).

A "Cinderella Story" like this is what makes sports so great.  This year, the Green Bay Packers, in the NFL, barely made the playoffs, but they knocked off the Steelers to win the Super Bowl.  The Dallas Mavericks defeated the highly favorited "super team" of the Miami Heat.  And the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Texas Rangers.  The year of 2011 has to be known as the year of the underdog in professional sports.

You cannot script stories like this.  The Cardinals miraculously made the playoffs, were down to their final strike twice in game six, and still managed to win the title.  With the way this team played this postseason, it was nearly impossible not to cheer for them.  This will definitely be a year in MLB that we will never forget.