The team finished the 2002 season with a 98-64 record and won the NL West Division Title, but were swept out in the NLDS by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Following the regular season, in which the 12-4 Panthers won their third NFC South division title, they hosted the Cardinals at Bank of America Stadium in the Panthers first home playoff game since January 2004.

Though the Panthers were heavy favorites, the Cardinals won 33-13, intercepting Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme five times.

The following season, the Panthers traveled to face the Cardinals and won 34-21 in a game in which the Panthers defense intercepted the Cardinals ' Kurt Warner five times as well.

Chicago halted St. Louis ' run to the playoffs by taking 4 of 5 games from the Cardinals at Wrigley Field in early September, after which the hapless Cubs finally won their first division title in 14 years.

The Cubs have won 10 of those pennants in Major League Baseball's Modern Era ( 1901 – present ), while all 18 of the Cardinals ' have been won since 1901.

The Cardinals also have a clear edge when it comes to World Series successes, having won 11 championships to the Cubs ' 2.

This has added excitement to several pennant races over the years, most recently in, and ; the first two times the division title was won by the Cubs, the third by the Cardinals, who went on to win the National League pennant as the Cubs faltered in the second half of the 2004 season.

The Lions have won four NFL Championships, the last in 1957, giving the club the second-longest NFL championship drought behind the Arizona Cardinals.

The Cardinals won the game, 5 – 2.

The Ball State Cardinals have won several conference championships and earned a number of NCAA Tournament berths over the years, including:

Following the tension of Game Six, the Cardinals pitching and defense came undone in Game 7 and their offense was shut down by Saberhagen leading to the lowest batting average to date (. 188 by the Cardinals, later broken by 2001 Yankees ) and fewest runs ( 13 for the Cardinals, still stands ) of any team in a 7 game series, and the Royals won 11 – 0 to clinch the franchise's only World Series title.

In Week 9, the Vikings played the Arizona Cardinals at home and won 27 – 24 in overtime.

They won the National League Division Series in five games over the Arizona Diamondbacks, but lost to the eventual World Series champions St. Louis Cardinals in six games during the NLCS.

The Cardinals won the next two games and seemed to have Game 4 in complete control until the Brewers rallied for six runs in the 7th to win the game 7 – 5.

The Brewers then won Game Five 6 – 4, giving them a 3 – 2 series lead, but the Cardinals trounced Don Sutton winning Game 6 13 – 1, and rallied for three runs late in Game 7 to win the Series, 4 games to 3.

The Brewers came out of the All-Star break with a bang as they won their first seven games back, all of them on the road, sweeping first the Giants and then the Cardinals, taking over first place in the Wild Card standings.

The two teams split the first two games at Miller Park, then the Cardinals took two out of 3 games at Busch Stadium and won Game 6 to win the National League pennant and eventually the World Series against the Texas Rangers.

The Redskins beat the Giants 28 – 14, but the Giants won their next three games against the Saint Louis Rams, Philadelphia Eagles, and Arizona Cardinals.

The Cardinals as a team won 101 games during the season and earned another postseason berth.

After the Cardinals took a three-games-to-two advantage, a controversial Game 6 call by umpire Don Denkinger overshadowed the remainder of the Series ( which the Royals won in seven games ).

The reigning National League Champions are the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Cubs lead the series 1, 091 – 1, 044 through, while the Cardinals lead in National League pennants with 18 against the Cubs ' 16.

When the National League split into two, and then three divisions, the Cardinals and Cubs remained together.

The Astros defeated Braves 3-2 in the Division Series, but would lose the National League Championship Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.

Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter pitched a complete game, two-hit shutout in the game, enabling the Cardinals to win the National League Wild Card.

The Brewers lost 9 games in a row in May and never fully recovered, finishing the season 77 – 85, which was good for 3rd place in the National League Central division, behind the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Many Brewer fans welcomed facing the Cardinals with the National League pennant at stake, with the Brewers and Cardinals having a growing rivalry, and also a chance for the Brewers to avenge their 1982 World Series defeat, which was at the hands of the Cardinals.

In the previous decade the Mets made one playoff appearance after the 2000 season ; it was in 2006 when they came within one game of the World Series, losing to the eventual World Champion St. Louis Cardinals in Game 7 of the 2006 National League Championship Series.

Smith later participated in the postseason for the first time when the Cardinals faced the Atlanta Braves in the best-of-five 1982 National League Championship Series ( NLCS ).

The Cardinals earned a postseason berth with 95 wins, and subsequently faced the San Francisco Giants in the 1987 National League Championship Series.

The victory moved the Cardinals to within a half game of Houston in the National League Central Division, and the Cardinals went on to win the division by six games.

In the postseason, the Cardinals first faced the San Diego Padres in the 1996 National League Division Series.

The Cardinals faced the Atlanta Braves in the 1996 National League Championship Series.

Yet the Phillies lost in the NLDS to the St. Louis Cardinals – the team that won the National League Wild Card as a result of the Phillies beating the Braves.

Along with its National League compadres, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Phillies are one of two teams in Major League baseball which utilize chain stitching in its chest emblem.

They have won 21 National League pennants and appeared in 18 World Series competitions – both records in the National League ( tied for NL pennants with the Los Angeles Dodgers and for World Series appearances with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals ).

The Giants ' 6 World Series Championships are also tied for second in the National League with the Dodgers ( the St. Louis Cardinals have won 11 ).

The club then moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in and played in that city through ( sometimes referred to as the " Football Cardinals " and / or the " Big Red " to avoid confusion with the Major League Baseball St. Louis Cardinals ).

After a series of rival leagues were organized but failed, ( most notably the American Base Ball Association, which spawned the clubs which would ultimately become the St. Louis Cardinals and Brooklyn Dodgers ) the current American League, evolving from the minor Western League of 1893, was established in 1901.

There were four men chiefly responsible for bringing Major League Baseball to Houston: George Kirksey and Craig Cullinan, who had led a futile attempt to purchase the St. Louis Cardinals in 1952 ; R. E.

Previously, the Twins had narrowly beat out the Royals for the 1987 American League West pennant, in which the Twins later took the World Series versus the St. Louis Cardinals.

Major League Baseball returned to the city in 1969 with the Royals, who have proven stable and became the first American League expansion team to reach the playoffs, in 1976, the World Series, in 1980 and to win the World Series, in 1985 against the state-rival St. Louis Cardinals in the " Show-Me Series.

* 2004 – Major League Baseball: The Boston Red Sox complete a four-game sweep of the 2004 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, giving the team their first World Series championship since 1918.

Osborne Earl " Ozzie " Smith ( born December 26, 1954 ) is an American former baseball shortstop who played in Major League Baseball ( MLB ) for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals from 1978 to 1996.