ST. LOUIS — As a franchise, the Cardinals are defintley not short on iconic postseason moments. But how do they stack up?
5 On Your Side set out to count down the Cardinals' classic postseason heroics from 10 to 1. Here's what we came up with.
Do you agree? What would you have added to the list?
10: Chris Carpenter's Game 5 of the 2011 NLDS against the Phillies
One of the best-pitched games in the history of the franchise.
Carpenter out-dueled his longtime friend and Hall of Famer the late Roy Halladay for a complete game shut out to send the Cardinals to the NLCS.
He went nine innings, gave up just three hits and didn't walk a batter.
The Cardinals don't go on to win the World Series without this herculean effort from Carpenter.
9: Albert Pujols breaks Brad Lidge and stuns Houston
The Astros were getting ready to celebrate a National League pennant at home. And then Pujols happened.
Everyone knows where they were at for this moment.
Pujols' go-ahead blast in the ninth against Lidge turned Minute Maid Park into the country's largest morgue.
The Cardinals would eventually lose the series, or this classic moment would be even higher.
8: 1987's unlikely homer heroes
Jose Oquendo hit one home run in the 1987 regular season. Tom Lawless hadn't hit any. Both came up huge in the playoffs with iconic homers.
Oquendo's in Game 7 of the NLCS helped get the Cardinals to the World Series.
Lawless's home run (and iconic bat flip) helped the Cardinals win Game 4 of the World Series.
Two of the most unexpected home runs in the history of the Cardinals.
7: Willie McGee does it all in the 1982 World Series
In Game 3 of the 198 World Series, Willie McGee literally did it all.
He had two absolute robbery catches at the wall, and then hit two home runs. He had only hit four home runs all season.
The rookie announced himself to the baseball world on the biggest stage in the game.
6: Albert makes World Series history in Arlington
Pujols' Game 3 in the 2011 World Series is quiet possibly the most dominant offensive performance in the history of the series.
Five hits, three home runs, six RBI and 14 total bases.
The machine added another chapter to his legendary career.
5: Bob Gibson's 17 strikeouts in the 1968 World Series
Don Larsen may have something to say about this, but Gibson turned in what could have been the most dominant start in World Series history.
Gibson's 17 strikeouts were a baseball record at the time, and are still a World Series record.
4: Yadier Molina's clutch Game 7 home run in the 2006 NLCS
Molina wasn't quite the clutch star he's become now all the way back in 2006, and his ninth inning go-ahead home run to send the Cardinals to the World Series really started that legacy.
Molina's cries of joy were audible on the broadcast as he jogged around the bases in a dead silent Shea Stadium.
You remember where you were for that one, too.
3: Jack Clark burns the Dodgers in 1985
Tommy Lasorda must still be regretting not walking Clark.
The Cardinals' power bat made the Dodgers pay with a clutch go-ahead home run in Los Angeles in Game 6 to send the Cardinals to the World Series.
2: Ozzie Smith makes St. Louis go crazy
Sometimes you just get a perfect moment.
Ozzie Smith had never hit a left-handed home run in his entire career in more than 3,000 at-bats.
Welp, he picked a heck of a time for his first.
Smith took Tom Niedenfuer deep to win Game 5 of the 1985 NLCS, and Jack Buck stole the show with an all-time great call.
1: David Freese becomes a legend
On an October night in 2011, a St. Louis kid became an icon.
There's really not a whole lot left to say about a moment that lives so vividly in the conscience of this town.
The definitive number one.
