The 5 most devastating World Series losses in St. Louis Cardinals history

# - 2013 World Series

After winning their 11th World Series title in 2011, the Cardinals lost Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa to retirement and future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols in free agency. Many thought that would lead to their downfall in the following years, but the Cardinals kept running through the National League for the first half of the 2010s.

After blowing a 3-1 lead in the 2012 NLCS the year prior, the Cardinals stormed back in 2013, going 97-65 behind one of the best offenses in baseball and a young, up-and-coming pitching staff. Yadier Molina, Matt Carpenter, Allen Craig, and Matt Holliday all received MVP votes that season, and the presence of Carlos Beltran, Matt Adams, Jon Jay, and David Freese helped make the Cardinals offense a pest for opposing teams. It's hard to forget the crazy run they went on that year with runners in scoring position, posting a .330/.402/.463 slash line as a team.

Pitching-wise, the Cardinals were led by Cy Young runner-up Adam Wainwright and Shelby Miller, who finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. It's hard to believe those weren't even the two names that teams feared the most that year, as Michael Wacha came up in the second half and was practically unhittable leading into the postseason and during the NLDS and NLCS. The Cardinals staff that year featured a strong group of young arms and veterans, as Lance Lynn, Jake Westbrook, Trevor Rosenthal, Jamie Garcia, Carlos Martinez, Kevin Siegrist, Randy Choate, Seth Maness, Edward Mujica, and more.

The Cardinals faced the red-hot Boston Red Sox in the October Classic, who led all of baseball in runs scored by a large margin that year and had David Ortiz playing out of his mind heading into the World Series. Game 1 of the series saw Jon Lester spin 7.2 scoreless innings while Adam Wainwright was beaten up by the Red Sox offense, and the Cardinals quickly fell down 1-0 in the series.

NLCS MVP Michael Wacha turned in an excellent start in Game 2, holding the Red Sox to just two runs in six innings of work, and the combination of Carlos Martinez and Trevor Rosenthal held down the lead as the Cardinals evened up the series.

Back in St. Louis for Game 3, the Cardinals ended up taking a 2-1 lead in the series, thanks to one of the most controversial endings to a World Series game in MLB history. Craig came in to pinch hit, hitting a double on the first pitch he saw from Boston closer Koji Uehara, putting runners on second and third with just one out. Jon Jay hit a ground ball to Dustin Pedroia, who gunned down Yadier Molina at home, but the Red Sox's catcher, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, tried to gun down Craig, who was trying for third, and the ball went off Will Middlebrooks' glove and into foul territory. Craig then started running home, but was tripped by Middlebrooks as the third baseman laid on the ground, causing him to be thrown out at home plate. But things got crazy as third base umpire Jim Joyce called obstruction on the play, and home plate umpire Dana Demuth determined that Craig would have scored on the play, resulting in a win for the Cardinals.

Game 4 would end in controversial fashion once again, as with the Cardinals down by two runs in the bottom of the ninth and the winning run in Carlos Beltran at the plate, pinch runner Kolten Wong was picked off by Uehara, resulting in the first ever World Series game to end in a pick off, tying up the series at 2-2.

With their ace on the mound again in Game 5, Wainwright turned in a better start for the Cardinals than he did in Game 1, allowing three runs while striking out 10 hitters in seven innings of work, but once again being outdueled by Lester, who allowed just one run in 7.2 innings. The Red Sox would win the game by 3-1, taking a 3-2 series lead as they went back to Boston for Game 6.

Even with Wacha on the mound, the Cardinasl were no match for the Red Sox, as the rookie gave up six runs in 3.2 innings of work and Lackey shut down the Cardinals offense over 6.2 innings of work. Boston would celebrate their third World Series title of the century that evening, and second over the Cardinals in that stretch.

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