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There is no greater thrill than reaching the World Series. But there is also no greater devastation than knocking on the door of being a world champion and falling short.
The St. Louis Cardinals have the fourth-most World Series appearances in MLB history with 19, and their 11-8 record in the fall classic means they have had their fair share of disappointment on the game's biggest stage.
Any time the Cardinals have fallen short in the World Series, the loss has obviously hurt, but there are a few that truly stand out above the rest. Some of these teams just seemed destined to win it all, so it is hard to grasp how they did not. Others had some pretty devastating situations occur that led to their demise, with the number one ranking on this list arbuably being robbed of the title worse than any other team in MLB history.
So today, let's revisit some iconic heartbreaks in Cardinals' history
Here are the 5 most devastating World Series losses in St. Louis Cardinals history
#5 - 1968 World Series
In modern sports, blowing a 3-1 series lead has become the kiss of death for professional teams and something that is hard to live down. The Cardinals experienced the frustrating end of this long before the Golden State Warriors or Cleveland Guardians did.
In 1968, the Cardinals were the reigning World Series champions and had five future Hall of Famers in Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Steve Carlton, Orlando Cepeda, and Red Schoendienst on their roster. Their clash with the 103-win Detroit Tigers was their chance at cementing their run in the 1960s as one of the best in baseball history, as few teams have become back-to-back champions over the course of MLB history.
Gibson had one of the best regular seasons of all time that year, posting a 1.12 ERA and 1.77 FIP with 269 strikeouts in 304.2 innings of work, limiting opposing offenses to just 0.85 WHIP. Gibson did not disappoint in Game 1 of the Fall Classic, as he set the MLB record for most strikeouts in a World Series game with 17 in a complete game shutout to take Game 1 of the series.
Following the Tigers' big bounce back win in Game 2 by a score of 8-1, the Cardinals took a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Tigers after beating them 7-3 thanks to a three-run homer from Tim McCarver in Game 3 and a 10-1 rout over Detroit in Game 4 of the series.
The Tigers stormed back in Game 5 and Game 6 to force a winner-take-all Game 7 back in St. Louis, where Mickey Lolich out-dueled Gibson as both starters went the distance, but Gibson allowed four runs as Detroit took home the World Series and completed their series comeback.
It truly is crazy that this Cardinals team blew a 3-1 series lead, and even more mind-boggling that Gibson lost Game 7, considering the historic year he had.