This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Sept. 29, 2011 - They are the 2011 St. Louis Wild Cards! Pujols, Molina, Carpenter, Berkman, Freese, Jay, Schumaker, the young guys, the old guys ... the names we know and the ones we're still learning.
It took them all 162 games to do it, but the Redbirds are going to the playoffs, snatching the National League postseason Wild Card spot from the Atlanta Braves on the final day of the season.
While the Cardinals cruised to a smooth 8-0 victory Wednesday night in a dandy shutout pitched by ace Chris Carpenter over the Astros in Houston, the Braves took 13 very long innings to lose 4-3 to the Eastern Division winning Philadelphia Phillies.
After a champagne celebration in Houston, the Cardinals were headed to Philadelphia where they will face the Phillies at 4:07 p.m. Saturday in the first game of the National League Division Series.
The Cardinals were well past their high-fives and post-game interviews by the time the Braves completed their September swoon in Atlanta. The Braves had been winning until the top of the ninth, when the Phillies tied the game 3-3.
The Cards and Braves started the night tied for the Wild Card berth, but in the end the only numbers that mattered were these: St. Louis, 90 wins and 72 losses; Atlanta, 89 wins and 73 losses.
Though Cardinals fans had prepared for a nail-biter, the night's angst was reserved for the Braves' fans who have watched their team painfully blow the 10.5 game lead they held over St. Louis at the end of August.
The down-to-the-wire race for the Redbirds was a fitting reward for the faithful of Cardinal Nation who continued to believe -- even though the boys were still 8.5 games back on Sept. 5. The loss for the Braves is a record-setter: the first National League team to blow a lead of as many as 8.5 games this late in the season and not make the playoffs.
Tampa Bay and Boston were tied for the American League Wild Card going into Wednesday's game. The Rays grabbed the postseason berth by defeating the New York Yankees in extra innings just three minutes after the Red Sox lost to the Baltimore Orioles.
According to Major League Baseball, this was the first time since the Wild Card was implemented in 1995 that tied races on the final day of the season would determine playoff survivors in both leagues. Both league's Wild Card races were also tied going into the final day last year, but Tampa Bay and the Yankees had already guaranteed their spots in the American League playoffs and were deciding the Eastern Division championship.
Here are some fun facts about those Wild Card-inals:
By the numbers: The Comeback Cardinals
1 billion: Approximate number of times broadcaster/former Cardinal pitcher Al Hrabosky said, "The Cardinals have to win tonight," during Tuesday's Fox Sports Midwest telecast of the come-from-behind victory over the Astros.
2006: Another nail-biting year. Following a September slump, the Cards held on to win the National League Central championship on the last day of the regular season. Regarded as underdogs everywhere but St. Louis, they went on to win their latest World Series title (4-1 over the Detroit Tigers).
1995: Year the Wild Card race was implemented after Major League Baseball expanded to 28 teams divided into two leagues, each with three divisions. The Wild Card would have been used in 1994, but the players' strike forced cancelation of the playoffs that year.
1964: The magical comeback year of Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Mike Shannon and Bill White. The Cards were 8.5 games out of first place on that Sept. 5, and 6.5 games behind the Phillies that Sept. 21. They rallied to claim both the National League pennant and the World Series. (In 1964, there were just two teams in the postseason -- and no wild card spots.)
1934: The "Gas House Gang" won the National League pennant on the last day of the season and then beat Detroit 4-3 in the World Series.
24: Number of times the Cardinals have now made it to the playoffs
17: Pennants won (and counting)
10.5: Number of games the Cards were behind the Atlanta Braves in this season's Wild Card race on Aug. 25.
10: World Series wins (and counting)
8.5: Number of games the Cards were behind the Braves on Sept. 5. (Note the similarity to 1964.)
1: Until Wednesday night, the Cards had earned just one Wild Card berth -- in 2001, another comeback year, when they shared the National League's Central Division championship with the Astros (the first shared championship in major-league history). Houston got the division's slot in the playoffs; the Cards got the Wild Card spot.
0: Number of games won in their last playoff appearance in 2009. They lost three straight to the Los Ang ... Stop! Delete. Delete. Delete. It would be bad, bad, bad karma to even think about that today.
Sources: Baseball-reference.com, mlb.com, stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com.
