On August 25 the St. Louis Cardinals were coming off a 3 game losing streak as they had won just 3 of their last 10 sports betting matchups and were given up for dead in the National League wild card playoff race, as they were over 10 games behind the Atlanta Braves who seemed to be cruising along towards the post season. But St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa is as tough as they come and never gives up on a single pitch. LaRussa is relentless and his team reflected his character as they still came to play every single day and amazingly enough got back into the playoff race in September with a phenomenal run that coincided with the collapse of the Braves. The Cardinals went 23-9 down the stretch to steal the wild card spot from the Braves, who just died at their home of Turner Field with a chance to clinch the playoffs there against Philadelphia. At the end of the day this was a great lesson on how the marathon baseball season is truly “not over until it’s over.”
The Cardinals certainly showed signs of being a team that could pull of such a feat as they ranked 5th best in Major League Baseball for run production and 12th for staff earned run average. St. Louis was equally tough at home or on the road as they won 45 games as a host and racked up 45 more wins away from Busch Stadium.
Another major factor in the Cardinals advantage was their veteran presence on the roster with such stars as Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman, Yadier Molina, and Matt Holliday. The veteran lineup gave St. Louis the toughness and perspective of a long season and the guts to take on the number one seed Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Division Series and pull off a stunning 3-2 upset. Another tough veteran, starting pitcher Chris Carpenter, went “old school” with a complete game win to clinch the series at Philly for a huge sports betting upset.
The Cardinals' toughness and determination proved to be the difference in a 4-2 series win over the talented but soft and sloppy Milwaukee Brewers for the National League pennant.
In the World Series, the Cardinals simply refused to die, as they kept coming back against the Texas Rangers including a game 6 for the ages when they were down to their last strike and twice rallied in the late innings to take the series to a 7th game, which they won going away.
With toughness, resilience, determination, and retro attitude the Cardinals proved to be an inspiring champion.
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