The best and worst moments of the 2010s for the St. Louis Cardinals

The next decade of St. Louis Cardinals baseball will be full of greatness, but so was the last decade. What were the best and worst moments of the 2010s?

The end of the decade has come and what a ride it was for the St. Louis Cardinals from 2010 to 2019. They most definitely rode the roller-coaster that is the MLB season and had many good memories and also some not so good memories.

The Cardinals finish the decade as the 3rd winningest ball club in baseball and came away with 4 Central Division Titles, 2 NL Pennants, and 1 World Series Trophy. Not a shabby decade if you ask me. Along with the fact that this team brought so much success, it was the memories that will resonate most with me and fellow Cardinals fans.

Seeing the videos of David Freese putting that arm up rounding first base after hitting the Game 6 home run still gives me chills and I know it does for other people too.

I pray that the 2020s brings out as many good memories as this past decade did. Along with the good memories, there were also many moments that we will never forget that were not pleasant. Some may forget, but some are stained with the memories that did not bring about joy. I will be doing my best (with my own opinions) to provide you with the five best and five worst moments.

5th Worst: Kolten Wong picked off in 2013 WS

In Game 4 of the 2013 World Series, Mike Matheny made a situational decision to pinch-run for the clutch gene Allen Craig after his one-out base knock in the bottom half of the 9th inning of Game 4. When thinking of the 2013 World Series, Cardinals fans usually remember these two things for sure: when Allen Craig made a wild dash after tripping over Will Middlebrooks and scored to win the game on a defensive interference (WILD) and Wong getting picked off to end Game 4.

I have never in my life felt worse for an MLB player in my entire life.

Every fan in St. Louis was likely blaming him for getting picked off when his run did not even mean anything in a two-run game. So why did he get picked off? Why was he so far off the base?

Bottom line is that Koji Uehara had one of the fastest and most incredible pickoff moves I have ever seen. Wong trips and is a half step late. Bottom line, game over. Cardinals had no momentum after that and ended up losing Game 5 at home and Game 6 at Boston to lose the series. Nobody logically blames Kolten Wong for losing the World Series to the Red Sox but nevertheless, after that point, the Cardinals looked dead.

That poor kid got blasted by the media and he owned up to everything and even made a public apology to the organization and the fans for getting picked off. Absolutely a sad moment for the Cardinals but Kolten has looked past it and put together a respectable career and is making people remember him more for the defensive wizard that he is rather than “the pinch-runner who lost the Cardinals the World Series.”

5th Best: Cardinals sweep Cubs in Wrigley in late September 2019

In 2015, when the Cubs took care of the Redbirds in the NLDS, you could almost feel the tide turning in the NL Central as the North Side had the fun young guys that everybody was raving about.

Since that moment, it seemed the Cubs just had the Cardinals number in every aspect, even signing away Jason Heyward from St. Louis. The Cubs looked like they were building something very special behind the likes of Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Javier Baez.

When the Cardinals looked to be on fire late in the 2019 season, they knew that the end of the year was going to be tough as seven of their last 10 games were against Chicago. When the Cardinals surprised everyone and swept the Cubs behind three comeback victories, the tide of the NL Central seemed to have turned back into St. Louis’s favor. Everyone felt it.

As Yadier Molina and Paul DeJong went back to back off of Kimbrel to take the lead, you could hear a pin drop in Wrigley. Nobody could believe it. It was the first sweep of the Cubs in Wrigley since 1921. A very impressive feat and a very important moment of the decade and hopefully this momentum rolls over into the next decade.

4th Worst: Albert Pujols signs with Anaheim Angels

Honestly, this could have been way higher on the list if Albert had continued to tear up opposing pitchers but it almost ended up being a “not so horrible” thing whenever we started seeing the demise of The Machine.

Albert Pujols will go down as one of the best, if not the best St. Louis Cardinals hitter of all time. There is no doubt he was the best player of the previous decade and seemed like there was no chance that you would ever see Pujols in another jersey other than a Cardinals one.

A Cardinals fans’ worst nightmare came true after the 2011 season in which the Cardinals won the World Series when Albert Pujols decided to chase the money and start a new life in Anaheim when he signed a 10 year 240 million dollar contract. He left the entire fanbase heartbroken and stunned.

Looking back at the deal at the end of the century, it seems like almost a blessing that the Cardinals do not currently have to pay that contract. Without him leaving, we likely would not have been blessed to see Allen Craig rise to stardom quickly then fall to minor league even quicker, we would not have traded for Paul Goldschmidt, and we would be doomed by his contract and would always be second-guessing long term contracts due to this one.

As much as this fanbase will always appreciate Mr. Pujols for his incredible play while here in St. Louis, most of us are not upset we did not retain him looking back now.

4th Best: Matt Holliday’s emotional home run in final at-bat

If you ask me, Matt Holliday might go down as one of the most underrated Cardinals of all time. He was tasked with the impossible, he became the Cardinals’ best hitter once Pujols left. Quite the impossible task and seemed to always be in the shadow of Pujols no matter how good he did.

Holliday put up just such impressive numbers for the Cardinals from 2010-2014 and people are quick to forget just how much of a force he was for the Cardinals in the middle of this lineup for such a long time. Holliday made the Cardinals faithful stand up and give him a standing ovation one last time on September 30th in 2016.

After battling injuries for almost two seasons and the Cardinals publicly saying that they do not plan on exercising the team option for him, Holliday did his absolute best to get back in the batters’ box just one last time so he could let his fans know how much he appreciated this city. In doing so, he gave us one of the most memorable at-bats of the decade.

Matt Holliday, in his first at-bat in months, homered into the Cardinals bullpen and sent the whole stadium into an emotional mess. In that moment many were suddenly reminded that Matt Holliday was an incredible part of the transition into an era without Albert Pujols and I am sure the fans of St. Louis would not have rather had any other person other than Holliday bridge the gap.

He did have one more at-bat the next day, but for moment’s sake, we are going to say this was his final at-bat.

3rd Best: Albert Pujols FINALLY returns to Busch Stadium

In what seemed like a millennium to St. Louis Cardinals fans, Albert Pujols finally stepped back into the batters’ box at Busch Stadium for the first time since the 2011 World Series. He received a standing ovation LITERALLY every at-bat he had in this three-game series and not a single soul complained once about it.

I will admit it did seem odd that the 45,000 fans were actually rooting against the Cardinals for every at-bat that he had. Once Albert launched a home run in the second game of the series, many have never heard a louder cheer for any home run hit at Busch, AND IT WAS FOR AN OPPOSING PLAYER.

As weird as it was, he deserved every bit of it. What he means to this city and this organization is something that can never be quantified. Even though it took way longer to get him back to St. Louis than it should have, his return was nothing short of one of the greatest moments of the decade.

2nd Worst: Losing to the Cubs in the 2015 NLDS

This one, from a baseball perspective, probably stung the most amongst the Cardinals fanbase. As mentioned before, this seemed to signify the turn of the tide of the NL Central. The young highflying Cubs stepped on the throats of the Redbirds in this series and put them in the rearview mirror for the next three years.

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Watching the Cubs beat the Cardinals in 2015 and then, in turn, watching them continue their dominance and end up winning the 2016 World Series in dramatic fashion made some Cardinals fans want to claw their eyes out. Really the only good thing that came from the series was watching Tommy Pham take Jon Lester way deep basically into Ballpark Village.

The Cubs gave us a little taste of our own medicine and boy was it painful.

After being the big brother bully to the Cubs the past century, watching them come into Busch Stadium and take the series from us after a 100 win season was shocking and a gut check for sure. But thankfully the Cardinals were able to regain the NL Central title in 2019 after three long years of no postseason in St. Louis and we all pray that we never have to watch Theo Epstein hold up that World Series trophy ever again.

2nd Best: Pete Kozma go-ahead double vs the Nationals in 2012

Other than the World Series games, this game was the most electric game I have ever watched in my entire life. The back and forth play of this Game 5 of the 2012 NLDS will forever go down as one of the most memorable games in Cardinals’ recent history if you ask me.

The Washington crowd was wild and loud, the whole series had had a balance of great pitching and great hitting. The Cardinals found themselves down 7-5 in the final game of the series going into the final inning after being down 6-0 earlier in the game at the end of the 3rd inning. But inning by inning the Cardinals started to chip away until making their final push in the 9th.

The final frame got started with a laser into the right-center gap from Carlos Beltran and the dugout started to get hyped. Following the double, Holliday and Craig proceeded to make quick outs of themselves and the comeback looked bleak. The Nationals closer Drew Storen then began to lose his control and walked Yadi and David Freese both on full counts.

Then one of the most clutch hits of the decade happened BUT, it was not from Pete Kozma (yet). This one came from Daniel Descalso, a one-hop liner up the middle that went off of Ian Desmond‘s glove and into center field and the Cardinals had tied the game. Pete Kozma, who was hitting a mere .232 in AAA when he was called up, proceeded to hit .333 after getting the bump to the majors for the final 26 games of the regular season.

Finally, Pete Kozma who had been the epitome of what some call the “devil magic” of the Cardinals, steps into the box with runners on the corners and the game tied. Nevertheless, Kozma delivered the most unexpected clutch hit of the season and we probably have not had a more clutch hit since this point.

He lasers a single down the right field line to put the Cardinals ahead 9-7 to cap off a 4 run 9th to overcome the 6-0 deficit they were in. Pete Kozma is still booed every time he steps into the box in Washington no matter what team he plays for.

1st Worst: The Oscar Taveras tragedy

As painful as it is to sit here and write these words down, I cannot think of a more painful moment in my life from a baseball perspective than getting the update of the Oscar Taveras news.

Oscar Taveras was killed in a wreck in his home country of the Dominican Republic in October of 2014. He was driving his red Chevy Camaro whenever he lost control and hit a tree. But instead of sitting here and basking in the what-if scenarios of how good he could have been or what moves would have transpired or not happened if he was still around, I would like to glorify how amazing of a person and player this man was.

Taveras was given the burden of being called the most hyped prospect for the Cardinals in a very long time, many fans were hoping he could turn into the middle of the order force that would compliment the transition away from Pujols and eventually Holliday. He did nothing but impress the Front Office while he was wearing the birds on the bat.

Taveras was excellent defensively and loved to show off his rocket of an arm. Along with his rocket arm, Taveras had one sweet lefty swing. Yes, it was a long swing and sometimes he would get a little pull happy but you could just see the potential that was coming from him. The fans were excited to see what was in store from this man.

He hit three homers for the Cardinals in his short career but one was an immense pinch-hit home run that solidified the Cardinals win over the Giants in Game 2 of the 2012 NLCS (the only game the Cardinals took in the series) that ended with a walk-off home run by Kolten Wong.

Taveras, along with Yordano Ventura, Jose Fernandez, and Tyler Skaggs, are good examples of great baseball players that were taken from us too soon before we got to realize how good they really were and what their potential was. It’s a sad story and hopefully, people will never forget Oscar Taveras’ smile and his sweet lefty swing.

1st Best: David Freese’s Walk-Off Home Run in Game 6 of 2011 World Series

I mean, really, was there any other option for number one here?

This moment made adults jump around like kids again and brought the most diehard fans to tears. What a beautiful moment in St. Louis Cardinals history this was. So many factors came with this moment, the player, the game, the call, and the situation all made this moment so incredibly special and so unique that I know no Cardinals fan will ever forget.

David Freese sending the World Series to seven games was undoubtedly the best moment of the decade and probably is in contention for the greatest moment EVER in Cardinals history. Being from St. Louis, Freese solidified himself as a hometown hero forever. He has played for the devious Dodgers and even the in-division rival Pirates and the Cardinal fans continue to give this man a standing ovation every single year he comes back to St. Louis.

Why? Because he put the whole city, the whole organization, and the entire Cardinals nation on his back and carried them to a World Series championship in 2011. Joe Buck gave the famous “We will see you tomorrow night!” following the home run as a nod to his late father Jack Buck who gave the identical call on the Kirby Puckett homer in 1991.

Not only were the call and the home run itself special, but the entire back and forth game was incredible. So incredible that some call it the greatest game they have ever seen. But everybody knows how it ends and without the heroics of David Freese, the Cardinals would be one World Series trophy shy.

What a team, what a ride.

It was an amazing decade of Cardinals baseball and this list could’ve been double the size that it was. Looking forward, we are sure to keep getting moments like these in the next decade, hopefully with the same level of success.