FOX Sports' all-World Series team features deserving Cardinals nods and a glaring omission

Everyone loves a good list. Many people also love bickering over a good list. On that front, FOX Sports released a humdinger when it created the "ultimate 21st century World Series roster." Three former St. Louis Cardinals appear on the roster, and while all three are deserving of a spot, there are still reasons to quibble over FOX Sports' thoughts.

But let's start with the former Cardinals who rightfully appear on the all-World Series squad. David Freese's inclusion was a no-brainer. According to the FOX Sports article, Freese holds the highest Win Probablity Added for a World Series ever in his berserk 2011 run. He hit .348 in that World Series and, of course, capped it off with his game-tying triple and subsequent walk-off home run in the historic Game 6.

Freese couldn't repeat that success in the Cardinals' 2013 World Series loss against the Boston Red Sox, hitting just .158 with a .483 OPS, but he recaptured some of that magic with the Los Angeles Dodgers in their 2018 defeat, also at the hands of the Red Sox, where he hit .417 with a 1.333 OPS in 14 plate appearances. All told, Freese hit .296 with a .962 OPS in three Fall Classics and was pivotal, to say the least, to the Cardinals' 2011 title run.

The other Cardinal to hold a starring role on the list is starting pitcher Chris Carpenter, who tossed eight shutout innings in Game 3 of the 2006 World Series, which the Cardinals won 5-0. In 2011, the 36-year-old veteran shone again, allowing six earned runs across 19 innings in three starts, including Game 7, where he pitched six innings of two-run ball on only three days of rest. All told, he held a 3.76 ERA and a perfect 3-0 record in four career World Series starts.

Not every deserving Cardinal made the cut on FOX's 21st century World Series roster

For nearly two decades, the Cardinals had the privilege of an iron man behind the plate in Yadier Molina, and although FOX's article does him some justice in naming him a reserve, many Cardinals fans would disagree in a heartbeat.

FOX decided to place Philadelphia Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz as the starter, and to his credit, Ruiz performed exceptionally in two World Series, in 2008 and 2009. Over those two series, he hit .353 with a 1.194 OPS. Molina was also a sterling hitter throughout many of his World Series appearances, holding a .328 average and a .798 OPS in his four World Series. It's a solid line, but it can't compare to that of Ruiz.

On defense, however, Molina has a massive lead, and there's reason to believe that it could have affected the postseason outcomes to some extent. Ruiz allowed seven stolen bases in five World Series games in 2008 and four stolen bases in six games in the 2009 World Series. You know where this is going.

The 2011 Texas Rangers ranked fifth in stolen bases in the regular season, but Molina allowed just one steal across the full seven games. In the 2006 World Series, he also allowed just a single stolen base. And in 2013? One steal. In 2004, he didn't surrender a single one, although he only started one of those games. That's fewer stolen bases across just over three World Series than Ruiz allowed in one game, when he surrendered four in Game 3 of 2008 against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Molina's defense so thoroughly trounces that of Ruiz that there can be a real argument for Molina to start over Ruiz. Ultimately, though, the offensive numbers flash much more brightly on the stat sheets, so Molina's relegation to the bench is understandable.

What's likely to elicit more mutters is Albert Pujols' absence from this list. In three World Series, Pujols hit .255 with a .968 OPS, and his crowning postseason achievement was clubbing three home runs in Game 3 of the 2011 World Series. He also had two other hits in that game, ending up going 5-for-6 and scoring four runs with 14 total bases.

The starting first baseman on FOX's list is Freddie Freeman, who has hit .268 with a .973 OPS in his career over 15 games in three World Series. In the 2024 World Series, he drove in 12 runs, which is tied for an all-time high, and it he highlighted it with a walk-off grand slam in Game 1.

Freeman was the only first baseman on the list, unless one counts designated hitter David Ortiz. However, a multitude of third basemen populate the bench, as Pablo Sandoval, Justin Turner and Alex Rodriguez all made the reserve list. Sandoval was a beast in the World Series — he hit .426 and had a 1.162 OPS across 50 plate appearances in 12 games.

Turner and Rodriguez are somewhat more fringe cases. Turner has a .270 average and an .849 OPS across three World Series, and the bulk of those numbers came in 2020, when he hit .320 and had a 1.066 OPS. He was a non-entity in 2017, where he hit .160 with a .683 OPS, and in 2018, he held a strong .333 average but just an adequate .801 OPS, and he didn't drive in any runs.

Rodriguez only played in one World Series, in 2009, but in that small sample size of six games, where he hit .250 and owned a .973 OPS, he had four extra-base hits and six RBIs. The FOX Sports article also mentioned his home run in Game 3 and double in Game 4 as two of the most important plays in the series.

Rodriguez's clutch hits were undoubtedly integral to the Yankees' championship, but it feels like a bit of a stretch to name a hitter who only has six career World Series games as a member of the "ultimate" roster for greatest players in 21st century World Series. Pujols put the Cardinals on his back in Game 3, and with a similar batting line to that of Rodriguez in 10 more games, he had the chance to put on far more counting stats.

FOX Sports' list is respectable, and Freese's and Carpenter's inclusions are worthy of praise, but it missed the mark with its snub of The Machine.

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