Cardinals History: The height of St. Louis' dominance over baseball's villain

The Los Angeles Dodgers just clinched their fifth World Series appearance in nine seasons and are favored to go back-to-back as the champions of Major League Baseball. But if you rewind to about a decade ago, there was one team that had its number in the postseason.

The St. Louis Cardinals.

12 years ago today in baseball history, the Cardinals booked their trip to their second World Series appearance in three years, slaying the Dodgers in six games on their path toward a clash with the Boston Red Sox in the October Classic.

The Cardinals stood in the Dodgers way in October during the mid-2010s

Most Cardinals fans will remember Michael Wacha's incredible run in the 2013 playoffs, particularly against the Dodgers in the NLCS, where he held the Dodgers scoreless in 13.2 innings of work as a rookie after almost tossing a no-hitter against the Pirates in the NLDS. The Cardinals took care of business against Los Angeles in 2013 and would once again play the role of the boogeyman in the 2014 playoffs.

In the mid-2010s, Clayton Kershaw was arguably the best starting pitcher we have ever seen, and yet the Cardinals had no fear of him when October came around. In Game 1 of the 2014 NLDS, Kershaw was cruising against the Cardinals, holding a 6-1 lead over them going into the sixth inning after Adam Wainwright was beaten up in his start. Matt Carpenter made the game 6-2 on a solo home run that inning, but let's be honest, prime Kershaw with a four-run lead wasn't something any lineup wanted to see.

Except for St. Louis.

In the 7th inning, the Cardinals fired back, tagging Kershaw for six earned runs and taking the lead over the Dodgers in Los Angeles, holding onto the game and never looking back in the series.

While the Dodgers salvaged Game 2 at home, blood remained in the water for the Cardinals, as they took Game 3 in St. Louis, setting up one of the most iconic Cardinals postseason moments in Game 4, where Matt Adams took Kershaw deep for a three-run homer to send the Cardinals to their fourth straight NLCS appearance.

Since 2014, the teams have matched up just one time in the postseason, which turned out to be a nail-biting game. The 2021 Wild Card series matchup of Adam Wainwright and Max Scherzer resulted in a pitcher's duel, as both sides were locked in at a score of 1-1 until the bottom of the ninth inning, when struggling All-Star Alex Reyes gave up a two-run shot to Chris Taylor to send the Dodgers to the NLDS.

Now the Dodgers are the official big bad of Major League Baseball, becoming the poster child for what feels like an inevitable lockout coming in 2027. No team is truly the Dodgers' rival these days, just an entire league crossing their fingers that the Evil Empire comes crashing down each and every season. But hey, at least the Cardinals can lay claim to being one of their final true adversaries before this insane run they've been on!