Ten Favorite World Series: 2011 World Series (#2)

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It's time to take another peek at a great World Series from the past. I'm almost finished with this list of my favorite World Series that have happened during my lifetime. I've had some ups and downs this decade when it comes to winners and losers (and even participants -- dang Giants), but oh, has this decade given us some marvelous series. Case in point: today's entry on my list. #2: 2011: Cardinals/Rangers The year of the Rally Squirrel. During the series against the Phillies in the division series a squirrel ran across home plate at Busch Stadium. But that was nothing compared to how the Cardinals even got to the playoffs. They were three miles out of contention in August and managed to come back and win the Wild Card on the final day of the season. On the other side, the Texas Rangers were making their second consecutive World Series appearance. Ron Washington had a terrific team of players who were "expected" to be there (as opposed to the "luck" the Cardinals had with the great September combined with the Braves falling to pieces like a Patsy Cline song in the Wild Card race). Put the two teams on the field, and let them play. And play. And play. End results: one of the great World Series of our time. Oh, man, game six. There have been a lot of great game sixes in the history of the World Series, but this was the game sixiest!!! The Rangers, up three games to two, were up 7-4 going into the bottom of the eighth inning. Just six outs to go to a title. And the Cardinals came back, scoring one in the eighth and two in the ninth. In fact, on two different occasions during that game (the ninth and the tenth) the Cardinals were down to their last strike. Just go watch the game on You Tube. It's unbelievable. After that, we needed a "calm" game seven, and the Cardinals won it going away to capture their eleventh World Series title. For you trivia buffs, the Cardinals have the most titles in the National League, and they are second in Major League Baseball to you-know-who (the Evil Empire). Man, what a series. That squirrel knew something when he ran out onto the field: this was going to be nutty! 2011 World Series St. Louis Cardinals (NL) / Texas Rangers (AL) Winner: Cardinals, 4 games to 3 Best game: game six (Cardinals won, 10-9 in 11 innings) Who I was pulling for: Cardinals, but I wouldn't have been upset if the Rangers had won The highlight reel from game six, complete with Joe Buck actually doing a nice call for once (echoing his father's "We'll see you tomorrow night" call in game six of the 1991 Series):