Cardinals' legendary 2011 World Series Game 6 ranked among best games of the century

Every St. Louis Cardinals fan remembers where they were during Game 6 of the 2011 World Series.

It is perhaps the greatest single game in St. Louis Cardinals franchise history. Sure, Bob Gibson's heroics in Game 7 of the 1964 World Series looms large, as does Bob Gibson's 17-strikeout effort in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series. Lest we forget the changing of the guard in baseball supremacy when the 1942 Cardinals beat the dynastic New York Yankees.

However, those don't hold a candle to Game 6 of the 2011 World Series. It was so great that one outlet ranked it the third-best game of the century.

The Athletic appropriately ranked Game 6 of the 2011 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers.

In front of 47,365 fans, one of the greatest back-and-forth games in baseball history occurred. For most of the elimination game, the Rangers and Cardinals fought back and forth. The game was tied heading into the seventh inning after a brief start by the Cardinals' Jaime Garcia and some faltering by the Rangers' pitchers.

Tim Britton of The Athletic put it best in his piece, saying, "Baseball’s oft-stated promise is that, every night, you might see something you’d never seen before. Game 6 of the 2011 World Series tried to change that by packing everything you could possibly see into four hours and 33 minutes."

Defense and fundamentals were never the fulcrum of this game, as the Cardinals dropped two pop flies early in the game, along with a pickoff with the bases loaded. However, this defensive bad luck would turn the other way later in the game.

The Rangers broke the game open in the seventh, scoring three runs, two of which were via home runs by Adrian Beltre and Nelson Cruz. The Cardinals would inch closer in the eighth inning with a home run by Allen Craig to make it a 7-6 deficit in the ninth inning.

This is when the true fun began.

With closer Neftali Feliz on the mound, who up to that point had logged two saves and not given up a run in 2.2 innings in the World Series, the Rangers were fairly confident that they would be victorious. David Freese had other plans in mind.

Freese roped a ball to deep right field in the bottom of the ninth inning. Right fielder Nelson Cruz tracked the ball back only for it to fly over his head and land just shy of the warning track. Freese sprinted his way to third, and his RBI triple was enough to send the game into extra innings. The momentum was heavily in St. Louis's direction.

Rangers' outfielder Josh Hamilton hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the top of the tenth inning only to be matched by a sacrifice groundout to third by Ryan Theriot and an infield single by Lance Berkman in the bottom half of the frame.

Twice in this game were the Cardinals down to their last strike, and David Freese and Lance Berkman certainly delivered both times.

After Jake Westbrook shut the door on the Rangers in the top of the eleventh, the stage was set for David Freese, who had just saved the game two innings prior, to send the fans home happy.

With a full count and right-handed reliever Mark Lowe on the mound, the pressure was mounting for leadoff man David Freese. Lowe threw a 90-MPH pitch down the heart of the plate, and David Freese launched the ball to the grass in center field. His iconic helmet toss between his legs as he neared home plate, along with Joe Buck's memorable "We will see you tomorrow night!" call are etched into baseball fans' brains across the country.

Game 6 of the 2011 World Series had everything. It was the perfect combination of drama, heartbreak, and redemption. Britton placed Game 7 of the 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Guardians and Game 7 of the 2003 World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees as the only two games better.