Wainwright had won a combined 39 games the previous two seasons.
The Cardinals didn't appear to have an answer as to who would replace him, so many experts said the team's chances of making the playoffs were slim to none.
Additionally, there was more injuries during the season. A total of 17 players ended up on the DL at some point during the season.
On August 24, the lowly Dodgers finished a sweep of the Cardinals. They outscored them in the last two games of the series 22 to 6.
The Cardinals stood 10 1/2 games out of the playoffs with 31 to play.
Then, there was the bullpen.
The same one that blew 26 save opportunities (2nd most in the majors) and had given up 13 walk-off losses.
The Cardinals had acquired five players at the trade deadline. Edwin Jackson, Octavio Dotel, Mark Rzepcynski, Arthur Rhodes, and Rafael Furcal. Would these really make a difference?
It seemed so unlikely and impossible for this team to make the playoffs.
However, on the final day of the season, Chris Carpenter pitched them to 8-0 win over the Astros, which combined with a Braves lost sent them to the playoffs.
They were rewarded with getting to play the World Series favorite Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies playoff rotation only featured Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hamels as their top 3.
In the best of 5 series, the Phillies were up 2 games to 1, one win away from another NLCS berth. However, the Cardinals showed life beating Roy Oswalt to force a game 5.
Game 5 featured the epic pitching matchup of Chris Carpenter vs. Roy Halladay. Mid-season acquisition Rafael Furcal led the game off with a leadoff triple.
This brought Skip Schumaker to the plate. Schumaker is a part-time utility player, who finished with a regular season total of 38 RBIs.
The Cardinals eliminated their division foe, the Milwaukee Brewers, in 6, giving them their 18th World Series berth, where they would face the Texas Rangers.
Following Albert Pujols' game 3 performance, the Cardinals were feeling pretty good. Pujols finished the game with a ridiculous stat line of 5-6, 3 home runs, and 6 RBIs. The Cardinals were up 2 games to 1.
But then, the Texas Rangers won two games in a row at home to go up 3 games to 2.
This setup game 6, which turned out to be one of the greatest games in baseball history.
Bottom of the 9th. Rangers up 7-5. Two men on for the Cardinals. Texas closer Neftali Feliz was one strike away from the Rangers' first World Series Championship. But then, hometown boy David Freese tripled to deep right to score the two runners. Molina lines out, so we are headed to extras.
In the top of the 10th, Jason Motte throws a mistake pitch to Josh Hamilton, who turns it into a 2-run home run.
In the bottom of the 10th, Ron Washington decides to bring in veteran Darren Oliver. Oliver gives up 2 singles. Following a sacrifice bunt by Kyle Lohse, the two baserunners are on 2nd and 3rd. Oliver is relieved by Scott Feldman.
Ryan Theriot grounds out, but one run scores and the other baserunner moves up to third. Feldman decides to not mess with Pujols, so he intentionally walks him. This brought up Lance Berkman with two outs. Feldman gets two strikes, so the Rangers are one strike away from being champions. However, Big Puma is clutch and comes through with the big RBI single. Allen Craig grounds out to end the inning.
Jake Westbrook pitches a scoreless top of the 11th. In the bottom of the 11th, Mark Lowe of the Rangers faces his first batter David Freese. On a full count, Freese homers to center, giving the Cardinals a walkoff win to force game 7.
The Cardinals won game 7 6-2 last night behind great pitching by Chris Carpenter and some more clutch hitting early on by David Freese. Freese becomes a hometown hero and wins the MVP.
Do you believe in miracles? Well the Cardinals do. They just proved it by winning their 11th World Series Championship.
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