| 2004 St. Louis Cardinals | ||
|---|---|---|
| National League Champions National League Central champions | ||
 | ||
| League | National League | |
| Division | Central | |
| Ballpark | Busch Memorial Stadium | |
| City | St. Louis, Missouri | |
| Record | 105–57 (.644) | |
| Divisional place | 1st | |
| Owners | William DeWitt, Jr. | |
| General managers | Walt Jocketty | |
| Managers | Tony La Russa | |
| Television | Fox Sports Midwest (Joe Buck, Dan McLaughlin, Al Hrabosky) KPLR (Ricky Horton, Bob Carpenter, Rich Gould) | |
| Radio | KMOX (Mike Shannon, Wayne Hagin, Bob Ramsey) | |
| ||
The 2004 St. Louis Cardinals season was the 123rd season for the St. Louis Cardinals, a Major League Baseball franchise in St. Louis, Missouri. It was the 113th season for the Cardinals in the National League and their 39th in Busch Memorial Stadium.
The Cardinals went 105–57 during the season (the team's best record in the La Russa era), the most wins of any team in baseball that year, the most wins by any Cardinals team since 1944, and the first Cardinal team to win 100 or more games since 1985, and won the National League Central by 13 games over the NL Wild-Card Champion Houston Astros. In the playoffs the Cardinals defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 3 games to 1 in the NLDS and the Astros 4 games to 3 in the NLCS to reach their first World Series since 1987. In the World Series the Cardinals faced the Boston Red Sox and were swept 4 games to 0. It was the final World Series played at Busch Memorial Stadium. Because the American League had home-field advantage as a result of winning the All-Star Game, Busch Memorial Stadium was where the Curse of the Bambino died.[1]
Catcher Mike Matheny, third baseman Scott Rolen, and outfielder Jim Edmonds won Gold Gloves this year.
The 2004 St. Louis Cardinals were the first team to lose the World Series to a "Moneyball" style team roster on the side of the Red Sox.
- ^ Shaughnessy, Dan (2005). Reversing the Curse. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-618-51748-0.