The Cardinals are going to the Series for the 19th time

The Cardinals are going to the Series for the 19th time

In terms of championships, they are the greatest franchise in NL history, with 11 World Series wins. Nobody else has more than seven. In all 140+ years of professional baseball history, only the AL's mighty Bronx Bombers have won more rings.

Hey, they roughed up the best pitcher in the game as if he were a greenhorn. They earned it.

It will be a battle of storied franchises in ancient rivalries, no matter how the AL shakes out.

==============

The Cardinals have matched up against the Tigers in 2006, 1968 and 1934, winning the first and last, but losing the middle encounter in an upset, as a result of a miraculous three wins for the Tigers' second starter, Mickey Lolich. Bob Gibson and Denny McLain were supposed to be the pitching stars. McLain was the last thirty-game winner that year, and his 31 wins tied the record for the live ball era. Gibson posted a microscopic 1.12 ERA with 13 shutouts. That is the lowest ERA of the live ball era by a very wide margin. (Dwight Gooden posted a 1.53 in 1985 to finish a distant second.) Gibby won two complete games, a pair of dominant 5-hitters, but lost game seven to Lolich's third complete game victory.

In 1934, the Dean brothers won two games each in a Series that went the distance.

In 2006, the Cardinals won easily, needing only five games to beat the Tigers. They beat Verlander twice along the way, and hung a 5.73 ERA on him in the process.

===============

The Cardinals and Red Sox have met in 2004, 1967 and 1946, with the Cardinals again winning 2 of three (the first two).

In 1967, Bob Gibson won three complete games in a 4-3 Cardinals victory.

In 1946, in Ted Williams' only World Series, the Cardinals won 4-3 on hustle and three semi-miraculous wins (one in relief) from Harry Brecheen, a guy who went only 15-15 during the season, despite pitching in front of a team that won 98 games with the league's best offense. (Sidebar: the Cardinals' 20-year-old rookie catcher in that Series was future Today show panelist Joe Garagiola, who went four-for-five in game four, with three RBIs.)

2004 was, of course, the year that the Sox finally broke the curse. They swept the Cardinals, outscoring them 24-12. The Cardinals never led a game at any time.