World Series appeared in 9 and won 5. As of 2018, no team has won consecutive World Series championships since the New York Yankees in , , and —the longest such drought in Major League Baseball history. Until the formation of the American Association in 1882 as a second major league, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (1871–1875) and then the National League (founded 1876) represented the top level of organized baseball in the United States. All championships were awarded to the team with the best record at the end of the season, without a postseason series being played. From
2011 World Series the 2006 NLCS against, coincidentally, the Cardinals; and the Boston Red Sox in the 1975 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. Freese's walk-off home run was the fourth that won in a Game 6 in World Series history. The Cardinals set two World Series milestones in their Game 6 win—the first team to come back from deficits in both the 9th and 10th innings, and the first team to score in the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th innings. On "Mike and Mike in the Morning" the next day, ESPN senior baseball analyst Buster Olney called it the greatest game in