Three of the best Cardinals teams to not win the World Series in the 21st century
The St. Louis Cardinals have a long history of winning. 2023 will not be remembered as one of those years, but for the vast majority of their franchise history, the Cardinals have been a pretty solid team. They've won 11 World Series titles and 19 National League Pennants.
Each generation of fans has seen more than their fair share of franchise icons and legends. Players such as Bob Gibson, Stan Musial, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, and Adam Wainwright.
All of the listed players were part of at least one World Series championship team during their time in St. Louis. Pujols, Molina, and Wainwright have two rings together, while Gibson has two and Musial has three.
However, winning the World Series is hard to do, and at the end of each season, there are always going to be 29 unhappy teams who are looking to unseat the defending champion. Though the Cardinals have traditionally had very good teams, a lot of them haven't gone on to win the World Series, showing just how hard it is to be baseball's best team.
The Cardinals had great teams in 1968, 1985, and 1987, but ultimately fell short of their goals. It's happened to the Cardinals a couple of times since the turn of the century as well. There have been teams with star-studded rosters that haven't been able to seal the deal.
In this piece, we will look at three such teams from the 21st century that had championship potential but couldn't close the deal
2005
The 2005 Cardinals team was absolutely loaded. Albert Pujols was in his prime, and so were Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen. St. Louis also had a filthy pitching staff that featured Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder, Jeff Suppan, and Jason Marquis.
The bullpen was anchored by Jason Isringhausen, the all-time franchise leader in saves. Rolen was hurt at the beginning of the season and was on the shelf for the remainder of it, but the Cardinals weathered the storm thanks to a stacked roster. This was also the first year that they had David Eckstein at shortstop and the final ride for Hall-of-Famer Larry Walker.
The Cardinals won 100 games and curb-stomped the Padres in the NLDS, earning a sweep. They then advanced to the NLCS for a rematch of the 2004 series against the Astros, who were NL Central rivals at the time.
This time, it didn't end well. Pujols' towering home run off Brad Lidge helped force Game 6, but the Astros rebounded and eliminated the Cards, thus ending the 2005 season in bitter fashion, with the final scene at the Old Busch Stadium being the Astros celebrating.
2013
2013 was also a special year for the Cardinals. They were a few years removed from losing Pujols to the Angels but had a very solid roster. Yadier Molina, Allen Craig, Carlos Beltran, Matt Carpenter, David Freese, and Matt Holliday anchored a strong lineup.
On the pitching side, St. Louis had Adam Wainwright as the ace. Though Chris Carpenter was hurt, another solid arm emerged from within the system, that being Michael Wacha. Wacha earned NLCS MVP honors while Wainwright won 19 games and posted a 2.94 ERA.
After eliminating the Dodgers in the NLCS, The Cardinals marched onto the World Series, where they would meet the Red Sox.
The two teams traded wins in the first four games, but after Boston won Game 5 at Busch Stadium, they carried that momentum back to Fenway Park. The Cardinals couldn't contain David Ortiz, and Wacha had a clunker in Game 6 as the Red Sox capped off their championship run. Ortiz earned series MVP honors.
2004
Perhaps the best Cardinals team this century to not win the World Series was the 2004 squad.
That team was very much the same as the 2005 squad, other than the fact that Edgar Renteria was manning shortstop and Mike Matheny was behind the plate. St. Louis also had speedster Tony Womack in their lineup.
After the trade deadline had passed, the Cardinals added Walker to put the final pieces in place for a World Series run. The team beat the Dodgers in the NLDS and won a seven-game thriller in the NLCS against the Astros, with the home team winning every game.
But the World Series is where things came to a screeching halt. The Red Sox had just completed a comeback from down 3-0 in the ALCS against the Yankees. Despite the Cardinals' 105 wins, they were no match for the Red Sox, who broke the "Curse of the Bambino" by sweeping the Cardinals.
The Sox celebrated on the field at Busch Stadium, and what had been a tremendous season for the Cardinals came crashing down.