After the Cardinals won Game 4 of the National League Championship Series (and later won the series in six games), many newspapers, particularly those in Los Angeles, ran headlines claiming that the Cardinals’ success was proof that the best team, referencing the Dodgers, does not always win in the playoffs. After the Boston Red Sox won Game 1 of the World Series 8-1, ESPN articles hinted that the Cardinals’ atrocious defense was proof that the Red Sox were far superior to the Cardinals.

Let’s be honest, the best team doesn’t always win in the playoffs. The Cardinals of 2006 were underdogs in every playoff round and yet still defeated the Detroit Tigers in five games to win the World Series. And don’t even get me started on the Cardinals of 2011. That team was a perfect example of a team who got hot at the right time, dispatching the powerful Phillies’ pitching, the Central Division Champion Brewers, and the well-rounded Rangers on the way to a World Series triumph.

Of course, the 2005 Cardinals, who won 100 games during the regular season, fell to the Houston Astros in the NLCS without even reaching the World Series. And what about the 2004 Cardinals who won 105 games but then were swept aside by the Boston Red Sox in the World Series? The Cardinals are not the only beneficiaries of the wildness of the playoffs.

I have a message to the Los Angeles newspapers who had the audacity to claim that the Dodgers were a better team than St. Louis. Not only did the Cardinals finish the season with a better record than the Dodgers (in a far tougher division), St. Louis defeated Los Angeles in a lengthy series by twice defeating Clayton Kershaw, the probable National League Cy Young Award winner and Dodger ace. And by the way, it was a rookie for the Cardinals that got the win in both of those Kershaw losses. And the Game 6 loss was a perfect display of baseball at its worst by the Dodgers; don’t tell me that the Cardinals aren’t the better team.

My final message is for the people that watched Game 1 of the World Series and therefore think that the Cardinals don’t deserve to be tied 2-2 in the series. I agree with you; Game 1 was possibly the worst game I have ever seen the Cardinals, or any team, play. Then again, didn’t Boston essentially give Game 2 to St. Louis on a silver platter? And despite the terrible Cardinal relief pitching in Game 3, didn’t the Red Sox once again give the game away because of a terrible mental error by catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia?

My point is that it is ridiculous to say that the Cardinals are not as good a team as the Red Sox. We had the same regular season record. We both beat good teams on the way to the World Series. The Cardinals have a strong lineup, an arguably superior pitching staff, the rookie sensation of Michael Wacha, and one of the best postseason hitters of all time in Carlos Beltran. The best team doesn’t always win in the playoffs. But this year, the two best teams are still around and there is no reason the Cardinals don’t deserve it if they win.

And if the Cardinals lose (which I doubt), at least our fans will have white towels to wave around instead of goofy, fake beards.

I’m just saying.