The definitive St. Louis Cardinals all-time postseason team

While other MLB franchises are having fun cheering on their teams in the Postseason, for us Cardinals fans that are feeling nostalgic in what is currently a disappointing stretch for the team, let's take a trip down memory lane.

This All-Cardinals Postseason team will have one player slotted for each position ( including manager), and will have honorable mentions of Cardinals players that had successful postseason careers but did not make the cut.

There are going to be some legendary Cardinals players that will not be on this list, including arguably the greatest hitter in Cardinals history, Stan Musial. You also won't see Hall of Fame players like Ozzie Smith, Scott Rolen, Rogers Hornsby, Dizzy Dean, etc.

And there will be a handful of players that had productive postseasons in St. Louis along with other teams that helped their status on this list. This collection of players is totally subjective so I do not expect everyone to agree completely with this list, there are some players that unquestionably deserve to be recognized here, but there are some that are up for debate, and lots of snubbed players who make compelling arguments.

Let's start with who I would have managing this All-Postseason team.

Manager: Tony LaRussa

The Cardinals have had some legendary managers in their history, but I don't think any of them have the resume that LaRussa has as a big-league manager. When LaRussa was hired to be the Cardinals manager prior to the 1996 season, the Cardinals were in a drought as a franchise, they were in a stretch of eight straight seasons with no postseason play.

During that stretch LaRussa was having plenty of success as the manager of the Oakland Athletics that included three straight trips to the World Series, and a championship in 1989 sweeping the Giants. He brought a handful of his coaching staff in Oakland with him in St. Louis and they instantly turned things around for the Cardinals, winning the division, and falling one game short of the World Series.

After a couple down years following a successful year one, the Cardinals had a stretch from 2000-2006 where they had seven consecutive winning seasons, six postseason appearances, five division titles, two 100+ game-winning seasons, and two trips to the World Series, including winning the franchises first championship in a near quarter century in 2006.

That would be followed up with another division title in 2009, and then a magical run to the World Series in 2011, giving St. Louis their 11th title in franchise history. And doing so becoming the first Cardinal manager in almost 70 years to manage the Cardinals to multiple World Series titles.

Honorable mentions: Whitey Herzog, Billy Southworth, Red Schoendienst

Let's now look at the infield going first to third.