Cards Send Texas into Deep Freese

The story is well documented about the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals, trailing the Braves by 10.5 games on August 25th and completing one of the greatest comebacks in baseball history. St. Louis clinched a Postseason birth on baseball's final day of regular season play, defeating the Houston Astros while watching the Braves lose an extra inning thriller to Philadelphia. The Cardinals' season has been defined by the words comeback and resilience, and now they are World Series Champions.

When the playoff brackets were announced for the NLDS, no one gave St. Louis a chance to defeat the best team in baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies. Not only did the Cardinals win the series, they won it in a classic Game 5 where ace Chris Carpenter pitched a 1-0 complete game shut out to send St. Louis to the NLCS against rival Milwaukee. The Brewers pushed St. Louis to their limits, but the Cardinals won the series in 6, led by unknown 3B David Freese who took home the NLCS MVP award as the Cardinals advanced to the Fall Classic against last year's AL Champion Texas Rangers.

Again, no one gave the Wild Card St. Louis Cardinals a chance to beat the mighty Rangers, but in one of the greatest World Series' ever St. Louis came out on top. The action started in Game 3 where Albert Pujols had one of the greatest single game performances in World Series history. Pujols blasted three homers while going 5-6 as the Cardinals took the lead in the series 2-1. The Rangers stormed back, winning the next two games to take the lead 3-2. But in one of the most exciting games in World Series history, David Freese put on a show. St. Louis trailed Texas 7-5 in the bottom of the 9th inning down to their final out, David Freese stepped to the plate. With two strikes on him, Freese blasted a 2-run triple to right field to tie the game. The Cardinals once again found themselves down to their final strike in the bottom of the 10th, trailing 9-7 when Lance Berkman tied the game with a 2-run double. The game would end in the 11th inning when David Freese stepped to the plate and sent a walk-off shot to center field to send the Cards to Game 7. Chris Carpenter was the hero in Game 7 pitching for 6 innings and allowing only two runs as St. Louis defeated Texas 6-2 in Game 7 of the World Series. David Freese was named the World Series MVP. The St. Luois native became the 6th player in MLB history to win both the LCS and World Series MVP award. Freese set the MLB record with 21 RBIs in the Postseason.

As the Cardinals celebrate their 11th title in franchise history, the future of the team is in serious question. All Stars Lance Berkman and Albert Pujols are set to hit free agency this winter, along with starting pitcher Edwin Jackson and Rafael Furcal. Of course all of the attention in the off season will be centered around Albert Pujols, once crowned baseball's best player. Pujols will be the most sought after free agent in a long time as all teams will be interested in his services. If St. Louis can not retain Pujols or Berkman, they will have a very difficult time repeating as World Series Champions.