Cardinals 2006 World Series Upset Fueled by Game 1's Unlikely Hero

As it turns out, Anthony Reyes was the perfect underdog starter of Game 1 of the 2006 World Series for the equally underdog St. Louis Cardinals against the heavily favored Detroit Pistons.

Some 20 years ago this week – Oct. 21, 2006, to be exact – Reyes was on the mound to start Game 1 of the World Series opposite future Hall of Famer and ace starter Justin Verlander. It was a perfect metaphor for how heavily favored the 95-win Tigers were going into the Fall Classic, and how things ultimately turned out in favor of the plucky, overachieving 83-win Redbirds.

“In the local (Detroit) newspaper, they said we would lose the series in three – and you have to win four out of seven,” recalled rookie sensation John Robinson, referring to the Cardinals being given little chance in the World Series.

Riding the momentum of upsetting the heavily favored Mets in seven games of the NLCS and carrying sizeable grudges as the underdogs, the Cardinals struck first in the series with a 7-2 victory in Game 1.

Setting the stage for that victory was the unheralded Reyes outpitching young star Justin Verlander, the 2006 Rookie of the Year and a 17-game winner that season. As for Reyes, who was 25 years old at the time, he was just 5-8 with an unsightly 5.06 ERA in the 2006 regular season. Also, he struggled in his one NLCS start by allowing two home runs in a 12-5 loss in Game 5.

All Reyes did that night was strike out four and hold the Tigers to four hits and two runs over five innings. That provided time for the Cardinals’ offense to batter Verlander for six hits, seven runs (six earned) and two homers.

Reyes, who was back in St. Louis in September for a 20-year anniversary celebration of the 2006 championship squad, was as surprised as most Cardinals fans about the result in Game 1 of the World Series.

“It was actually (pitching coach Dave) Duncan who told me because I was sitting at my locker, and from the game that I had before against the Mets, I didn’t think I would get a chance to start again,” Reyes recalled. “He taps me on the shoulder and says, ‘You’re going tomorrow.’ I didn’t have time to think about it, so I just did my normal day-before (starting) prep work and went out there and pitched.”

Now a fireman in California, Reyes said he regales his children in stories from the 2006 World Series when they ask about it. The hard-throwing right-hander with the distinctive flat-brimmed cap who went just 10-24 with a 5.38 ERA in four seasons with the Cardinals admitted that Game 1 gave him three of the best hours of his career.

“For me, I just tried to think of it as another game,” he said. “Having guys like (veteran pitcher Jeff Suppan for advice) and everybody else behind you (helped). As the new kid, they’re not talking to you much and I’m just watching how they did things. In playoff time, everything just feels different and it was special for me.”     

The Cardinals split the two games in Detroit, but they won all three in St. Louis to beat the Tigers, 4-1. Adam Wainwright, who struck out Brandon Inge to end the series, admitted that he jokes from time to time with Verlander – a friend and golfing partner of his – about the upstart Cardinals upsetting the Tigers in the World Series.

It is certainly a night that Reyes will never forget.