The 2011 World Series champions are the St. Louis Cardinals. Congradulations to Tony La Russa and his team. The Cardinals have quietly established themselves as one of the best teams in the last decade. With three pennants (2004,2006,2011) and two championships (2006,2011), La Russa and crew have done an excellent job of getting the most out of their players on a consistant basis. The Cardinals simply had no business in the postseason this year. Usually a team that is 10 games out of first place in mid August, has no realistic expectations of a World Series victory, or even a playoff birth. Kudos to a team that never quit.
World Series MVP David Freese serves as a perfect symbol for this years team. Freese decided to quit baseball after High School despite many Division 1 scholarships. While in college, he went home to visit his High School. This experience proved to change his life forever. While at home, he realized how much he missed baseball and gave it another try. In 2006, he was drafted by the San Diego Padres. Due to the overload of infield prospects, Freese was traded to the Cardinals. Injuries and lack of production delayed his emergence as a major leaguer. In 2010, when finally given the oppertunity to play consistantly, he played in 70 games due to injury. This year he again battled injuries but was pretty productive. Through 99 games he batted .297, with 10 home runs, and 55 rbi's. His numbers were far from spectacular, but solid. This postseason however, Freese emerged as a star. He batted .397 while leading the National League with 5 home runs and 21 rbis. Expectations will be high next season for Freese as he looks to continue his growth as an everyday player. However, if he were to fail, how bad could it really be? After carrying the Cardinals through the postseason and winning the MVP, the team gave him a 2012 Chevy Camero...it doesn't get much better than that.
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