The Storybook Ending Was Only the Beginning
The St. Louis Cardinals begin the defense of their 11th World Championship tonight in Miami. Before we start, lets take one last moment to recall the greatest story in Major League Baseball history-- the Hard Cards' epic 10 1/2 game rebound against the Braves with 31 games left to play, their come-from-behind five-game Division Series victory against the Phillies, their six-game tussle with the Brewers for the National League Pennant, and the epic 7-game World Series win against the Texas Rangers, which included a Game 6 that was the single most extraordinary game of baseball played at any level in the 172-year history of the sport.Jayson Stark recapped the whole journey on the ESPN site during the holidays. Reflect on these favorite "Strange But True Feats of the 2011 Post-season" as the new season begins...
* As late as 102 games into the season, the Cardinals had a worse record than the Pittsburgh Pirates.
* They were 8 1/2 games out in the month of September.
* They lost 25 games in their last at-bat.
* They blew more saves than all but one other Major League team.
* In W.S. Game 6, they were one strike away from losing the Series in twice as many innings (2) as all previous 106 World Series champions in history put together.
* More Game 6: The Cardinals had played 19,387 regular-season games in their history, and had never before won a game in which they were behind five times, and they chose to do it first in a World Series elimination game.
* In the 1,329 game history of postseason baseball, a team had never before scored runs in the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th innings.
* The Rangers blew only two saves in their last 41 regular-season games combined, but blew three in the last six innings of Game 6.
* And only one team in history had ever won an elimination game after being down to their last strike. (the 1986 Mets). Move over, Bill Buckner. The Cardinals did it in the ninth inning of Game 6. Then did it AGAIN in the tenth inning.
How will the Cardinals top it? HOW WILL THE CARDINALS TOP IT?
Let's take a look-see, shall we? Opening Day is here. 2012 Cardinals fans, This Bud's For You. Maestro, if you please...
posted by CM @ 5:25 PM
2 Comments:
"The single most extraordinary game of baseball played at any level in the 172-year history of the sport" is a ridiculous overstatement.
I agree that it's an amazing World Series game. I'll even give you the greatest World Series game (though not the greatest World Series overall), but there have been plenty of games where a team was down to their last strike twice and still won.
If you're talking about all levels and all 172 years, then you can't criticize some theoretical, legendary high school game just because it wasn't on the largest baseball stage.
"...it wasn't on the largest baseball stage."
Thank you.
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