World Champion St Louis Cardinals

First, let's congratulate the St Louis Cardinals on a surprising and amazing world championship run.

I will admit I was probably rooting against the Cards throughout the playoffs. Even before that really, since I admire and root for the Atlanta Braves organization to succeed and the Cards made an incredible run at the end of the regular season to swoop in and steal the wildcard berth from the Braves.

Why was I rooting against the Cards? Well, mostly because of my dislike for their manager Tony LaRussa...... but that will be a different discussion for another time. I believe this year was a special one for the St Louis Cardinals organization, one that in many ways defies baseball logic and I can't believe will be repeated by them next year. After all, how many teams can lose a perennial CY Young candidate from the get go and honestly compete?

What was the Cardinals magical formula this year? There never is just one reason why one team wins and another doesn't. Baseball is truly a team sport, so it is only logical there are a variety of reasons why a team succeeds. The Cards had come back years from Lance Berkman (voted NL comeback player of the year), Yadier Molina (best offensive year of career) and Kyle Lohse (lowered ERA by over 3 runs!). The Cards over came injuries to Adam Wainwright (out for the season), David Freese (Broken hand) and Matt Holliday (wrist issues). The Cards received solid seasons from Albert Pujols (best worst season in a player's career ever?), Jaime Garcia (second straight under the radar season) and Jason Motte (a stud bullpen workhorse as a setup man or closer).

The Organization also made strategic trades during the season which paid off handsomely: trading away Colby Rasmus, trading for Octavio Dotel, Rafael Furcal, Edwin Jackson and Arthur Rhodes. Removing Rasmus (whether right or wrong) helped calm the clubhouse atmosphere. Furcal helped cement the infield defense. Dotel and Rhodes brought experience and depth to a young but very solid bullpen. And finally, Edwin Jackson started 13 impressive games down the important stretch run. That last sentence is very hard for me to admit to since I have ALWAYS been an Edwin Jackson hater. And, yes, that stems from fantasy baseball where he has single handily sunk a team or two of mine!

In the final analysis, the real reason the Cards won was simple....... they stepped up when they needed to in the big moments. And, yes, that sounds like a cop out answer I know. How else do you explain this post-season's poster child Chris Carpenter's success when he had such a mediocre year during the regular season? How else do you explain David Freese's two post-season MVP awards? How else do you explain being one strike away from losing yet still becoming world champs?

Sometimes there is not one single good answer or reason for winning in baseball, and the Cards are a shining example of that. They are also a shining example of why I love baseball so much!