After a shocking collapse by the Atlanta Braves, and a pair of playoff series victories in  MLB betting results over the pitching-rich Philadelphia Phillies and the power-hitting Milwaukee Brewers, it's the upstart St. Louis Cardinals who have advanced all the way to the World Series as the champions of the National League.

Winning with wild abandon

The Cardinals only qualified for the postseason via the NL Wild Card on the final day of the regular season, winning 18 of their 26 games in September while the Braves went 9-18 and lost their final five games in a row to close out the season. In fact, as recently as September 10 the Cardinals were priced at a lucrative 100/1 odds to win the World Series on the MLB futures board.

St. Louis then eliminated the Phillies in a hard-fought best-of-five NL Division Series that went the distance, as Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter outdueled Roy Halladay to win 1-0 in a decisive Game 5 showdown and propel them on to the NL Championship Series. The Phillies were the only team in baseball to win more than 100 games during the regular season.

The Cardinals then squared off against the powerful Brewers for the NL Pennant, a team that not only finished six games ahead of St. Louis in the NL Central division during the regular season, but also led the major leagues with 57 wins at home. None of that seemed to matter, however, as the Cards gained a series split in the first two games in Milwaukee, then won two out of three in St. Louis, before finishing off the Brewers at Miller Park with a 12-6 victory in Game 6 on Sunday night.

Third baseman David Freese is hitting .425 with 14 RBI, eight runs scored, five doubles, and four home runs in the playoffs for a 1.315 OPS. Big 1B Albert Pujols has posted a .419 batting average with ten RBI, seven runs, seven doubles, and two homers for a 1.211 OPS. And Matt Holliday has also contributed to the Cardinals' postseason attack with a .375 average, eight runs, five RBI, two doubles, and a home run for a .975 OPS.

Lance Berkman, Rafael Furcal, Ryan Theriot, Jon Jay, and catcher Yadier Molina have also been a big part of the Cardinals' surprising postseason success at the plate, as they outscored Milwaukee 43-26 to advance to the World Series.

Previous World Series experience

The Cardinals will be making their third appearance in eight years in the Fall Classic; they were swept by the Red Sox in 2004 and defeated the Tigers in five games in 2006 in  MLB betting results.

Among current Cardinals hitters who appeared in those two previous World Series, Pujols hit a combined .267 in 38 plate appearances with four runs scored, three doubles, two RBI, one home run, and six walks for an .888 OPS. He also struck out six times in 30 official at-bats.

Molina was also a part of both those NL championship teams, hitting for an impressive .350 batting average in 20 at-bats with three runs, two doubles, and a .885 OPS.

Holliday appeared in the 2007 World Series with Colorado and hit .294 in 17 at-bats with a homer and three RBIs as the Rockies were swept by the Red Sox.

Berkman was a key slugger with the Houston Astros who were swept by the White Sox in the 2005 World Series in which he hit .385 with six RBI, two doubles, and a stolen base in 13 at-bats.

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Kyle Hunter
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