Minutes after fireworks exploded above Busch Stadium, a light rain replaced the shower of red, white and blue confetti that dusted the delirious fans.
St. Louis Cardinals utility man Skip Schumaker interpreted it as a message from the baseball gods to a team of destiny.
"We had so many things happen this season," said Schumaker, after the Cardinals polished off the Texas Rangers 6-2 in a World Series Game 7 that was mundane compared to previous games of the series. (MORE>>>)
Twice down to their last strike, the St. Louis Cardinals kept rallying to win one of baseball's greatest thrillers.
David Freese completed a startling night of comebacks with a home run leading off the bottom of the 11th inning to beat Texas 10-9 on Thursday, and suddenly fans all over got something they have waited a long time to see: Game 7 in the World Series.
"You had to be here to believe it," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. (MORE>>>)
After a day of rain, the Rangers enter Game 6 in St. Louis on Thursday night one win away from the first world championship in franchise history. Created as the expansion Washington Senators in 1961 and moved to Texas in 1972, the Rangers are the oldest of the eight major league clubs to have never won a championship, and their 50 consecutive title-less seasons rank behind only those of the Cubs (103) and Indians (63) among active streaks. Three longer droughts have ended in the last seven years with the Red Sox (85 years), White Sox (87), and Giants (55) each winning their first World Series since before expansion came to the majors. (MORE>>>)
The phone lines from the dugouts to the bullpens at Busch Stadium have been checked out. They are working. Now the World Series focus can return to the field.
Texas takes a 3-games-to-2 lead into Game 6 of the World Series at Busch Stadium tonight, weather permitting.
Here are five storylines to follow tonight in Texas’ bid for its first world championship: (MORE>>>)
As Elvis Andrus says, when you're not hitting, you have to do other things.
Such as be aggressive running the bases. Such as play great defense. Such as pitch like crazy.
The Rangers did enough of those other things to steal a 2-1 victory in Game 2 of the World Series Thursday night. Andrus made perhaps the play of the postseason with a diving stop and throw from his glove that saved a run, and starter Colby Lewis gave the Rangers their first quality start of the postseason, shutting down the Cardinals for 6 2/3 innings. (MORE>>>)
Raise your hand if you had the Texas Rangers squaring off with the St. Louis Cardinals your preseason World Series picks.
If you did I'm sure you were in select company, but that is where we are as we get ready to open the 107th edition of the Fall Classic on Wednesday at Busch Stadium.
The Rangers are back in the World Series for the second straight season after losing in five games to the San Francisco Giants last year in their first- ever appearance.
After their second straight AL West title and a franchise-record 96 wins this past season, the Rangers disposed of the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS before "Cruz-ing" to a six-game win over the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS, as outfielder Nelson Cruz set the all-time mark for most home runs (six) and RBI (13) in a postseason series on his way to MVP honors. (MORE>>>)
One of these days, they're going to wake up in the middle of the night and wonder, "How did we get here?"
One of these days, they're going to look around at the World Series flags flapping in the breeze and ask, "How did we do this?"
One of these days, this impossible dream is going to hit home, and they're going to think, "This can't be real. This can't be happening."
Oh, but it's happening, all right. The St. Louis Cardinals are heading for the World Series. But not just any World Series. (MORE>>>)
The Cardinals began their unlikely run for the wild card spot about the time they swept the Brewers in Miller Park at the end of August.
Now they are back in Milwaukee, playing Game 6 of the National League Championship Series. And while they knew they could have another chance Monday, if necessary, their focus was on Sunday.
“One of the neatest things about what's happened to our club from whenever we started smelling a chance to get into the eight-game playoffs,” manager Tony La Russa said, “was we took the attitude that tomorrow is the last game of our lives, which means you don't think about anything beyond that.” (MORE>>>)
The St. Louis Cardinals are one victory away from the World Series after overpowering the error-prone Milwaukee Brewers 7-1 in game five of their Major League Baseball series.
The Cardinals on Friday survived a short start from pitching ace Jaime Garcia, by getting a brilliant performance from their bullpen to give them a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. (MORE>>>)
Albert Pujols got his shot at redemption, and he didn't miss.
After misfiring in a critical spot in Game 1, the St. Louis Cardinals' big gun landed direct hits on the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.
Making manager Tony La Russa look prescient, Pujols went 4-for-5 — all extra-base hits — with five RBI and three runs scored to power St. Louis to a 12-3 win Monday that evened the series 1-1. (MORE>>>)
The National League Championship Series had been portrayed as a clash of philosophies, a battle between new-school ostentation and old-school politesse.
The St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers, rivals in the Central Division, met 18 times during the regular season and produced a string of beanballs and verbal sniping born from gamesmanship and general ill will. They continued needling each other in a back-and-forth conducted through the news media during their workouts Saturday afternoon. (MORE...)