On September 5, 2011, the St. Louis Cardinals sat eight-and-a-half games back of what was then the only Wild Card.
They then tore through the rest of September, winning on the final day of the season to secure the Wild Card by one game over the Braves.
In the playoffs, St. Louis, winners of 90 games, upended the 102-win Phillies in five games*, defeated the 96-win Brewers in six games to claim the pennant, and won an exhilarating seven-game series against the 96-win Texas Rangers to claim the organization’s 11th World Series Championship.
*Earlier in the evening, before their Game Five victory, I got engaged.