The 2006 Cardinals team, which is being honored this weekend at Busch Stadium, went into the playoffs as huge underdogs after winning just 83 games in an injury-ravaged season. However, that team got healthy and got hot and won the franchise's 10th World Series crown.
Even now, some 20 years after the St. Louis Cardinals stormed to the unlikeliest World Series crown of the 11 the franchise owns, players from that team marvel at the massive underdogs they were entering the playoffs and the special run they went on in the postseason.
Unlike the famed 2004 Cardinals team that won 105 games and the 2005 squad won 100 games and boasted the famed “M-V-3” of Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds, the 2006 team had to grind all season through a bevy of injuries and needed lots of fortunate breaks just to sneak into the playoffs. The 2006 Cardinals reached the playoffs at with a modest 83-78 record, and little was expected of them in the postseason.
That 2006 Cardinals team, which will be honored tonight at Busch Stadium in a special ceremony commemorating the 20-year anniversary of that World Series crown, were massive underdogs to the Padres, Mets and Tigers in those playoffs. Incredibly, the Cardinals tore through those three teams, beating the Padres in four games, edging the Mets in a seven-game thriller and thrashing the heavily favored Tigers of Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera and Jim Leyland.
“San Diego was supposed to beat us, no matter what and the Mets were supposed to trounce us,” recalled outfielder John Rodriguez, a 28-year-old rookie on that 2006 team that helped the Cardinals overcome the many injuries that hit the team by batting .301 and posting a 108 OPS+ over 102 regular-season games and six playoff games.
“Then, in Detroit, the newspaper said they were going to sweep us in three when you still had to win four,” Rodriguez continued with a laugh. “And then they had, they had (a television graphic) messed up and it actually said, ‘Detroit against the Mets.’ They messed up with that one and we took it and used it as a chip on our shoulder. We took care of business, and we did it in five.”
Before the Cardinals take on the White Sox on Friday night at Busch Stadium, the franchise will honor the 20-year anniversary of the 2006 team becoming unlikely champions. More than 30 players from that 2006 team, including National Baseball Hall of Famers Tony La Russa and Scott Rolen, Cardinals Hall of Famers Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, Chris Carpenter, Jim Edmonds, Jason Isringhausen and José Oquendo and World Series MVP David Eckstein and NLCS MVP Jeff Suppan are scheduled to take part in the pregame motorcade around the Busch Stadium warning track. The ceremony honoring the 2006 team will begin at 6:35 p.m. CT before the 7:15 p.m. CT first pitch between the Cardinals and White Sox.
Back in St. Louis as part of the 20-year reunion and to support the Hall of Fame inductions of Pujols and Molina, Adam Wainwright remembered the feeling of superiority that the 2006 team had despite limping into the playoffs with just 83 wins. With many of the star players back and healthy, Wainwright said the 2006 Cardinals always thought they could do something special even though they were massive underdogs to the Padres, Mets and Tigers.
“We knew what we had and if you look at (the rosters) now on those other teams and our team, we had all the Hall of Famers with Scott Rolen, Jimmy Edmonds, Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina – legendary, Hall of Fame type of players,” recalled Wainwright, who noted that he is still stopped regularly and asked about his epic strike three curveball to Carlos Beltran in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series. “We knew that they were finally all healthy at the right time. We tried to blow it that year (in the regular season) – a couple of times – but we didn’t, and we knew we were good.”
Added backup catcher Gary Bennett of a 2006 Cardinals team that started the season 17-8 before injuries hit and they endured two eight-games losing streaks before regaining control of the division to gain entry into the playoffs: “We had one of the best starts in April of any team in Cardinals history. Then, Albert pulls an oblique, (Eckstein) gets hurt, (Edmonds) gets hurt and (Scott) Rolen spent some time (injury), so we were all hurt. But when we went into San Diego and we looked at that lineup, and it was the first time we were fully healthy since April.”
