Cards top of deck

ST. LOUIS – Pushed to the brink, the St. Louis Cardinals saved themselves. A frantic rush to reach the postseason on the final day. A nifty pair of comebacks in the playoffs. Two desperate rallies in Game 6.

Turns out these Cardinals were merely gearing up for a gigantic celebration.

The Cardinals won a remarkable World Series they weren’t even supposed to reach, beating the Texas Rangers 6-2 in Game 7 on Friday night with another key hit by hometown star David Freese and six gutty innings from star pitcher Chris Carpenter.

“This whole ride, this team deserves this,” said Freese, who added the Series MVP award to his trophy as the N.L. championship MVP. “This organization is top notch. … This is definitely a dream come true. This is why you keep battling. … I’m so glad to be a part of this.”

A day after an epic Game 6 that saw them twice within one strike of elimination before winning 10-9 in the 11th inning, the Cardinals captured their 11th World Series crown.

And following a whole fall on the edge, including a surge from 10 1/2 games down in the wild-card race, Tony La Russa’s team didn’t dare mess with Texas, or any more drama in baseball’s first World Series Game 7 since the Angels beat the Giants in 2002.

Freese’s two-run double tied it in the first and good-luck charm Allen Craig hit a go-ahead homer in the third. Picked by La Russa earlier in the day to start on short rest, Carpenter and the tireless St. Louis bullpen closed it out.

“I wish everybody in the country could get to know these guys,” Craig said. “It’s unbelievable. I’m just glad to be a part of it.”

Fireworks and confetti rang out at Busch Stadium when Jason Motte retired David Murphy on a fly ball to end it.

“We just kept playing,” Lance Berkman said.

So, did he enjoy this exhilarating matchup?

“Fun may not be the right word, but it’s fun now,” Berkman said.

This marked the ninth straight time the home team won Game 7 in the World Series.

The Rangers, meanwhile, will spend the winter wondering how it all got away following last year’s five-game wipeout against San Francisco.

Texas had not lost consecutive games since August. These two defeats at Busch Stadium cost manager Ron Washington and the Rangers a chance to win their first title in the franchise’s 51-year history.

“I just told them they’re champions, which I believe,” Washington said. “Someone has to win, someone has to lose and the Cardinals did it. … They were the better team. They are the world champions. All we can do is come back next year and commit ourselves to it, like they did this year.”

A year full of inspiring rallies and epic collapses by the Cardinals was encapsulated in Game 6. Freese was the star, with a tying triple in the ninth and a winning home run in the 11th. His two RBIs in the clincher gave him a postseason record 21.

The Cardinals won their first championship since 2006, and gave La Russa his third World Series title.

By the time Yadier Molina drew a bases-loaded walk from starter Texas Matt Harrison and Rafael Furcal was hit by a pitch from C.J. Wilson in relief in the fifth inning to put the Cardinals up 5-2, the largest crowd in the six-year history of Busch Stadium – 47,399 – began to sense a championship was near.

The Cards were relaxed before the game.

“We were all in the clubhouse and we were a loose bunch of guys,” Motte said. “We were in there hanging out, dancing … had music playing. We were all like that’s the way we win and that’s how we play the best and we came out we were able to do it today. It’s just amazing.”

On this evening, all the stars aligned for St. Louis.

Starting in place of injured Matt Holliday, Craig hit his third homer of the Series and made a leaping catch at the top of the left field wall. Molina made another strong throw to nail a stray runner. And Carpenter steeled himself to pitch into the seventh.

“It was in our grasp and we didn’t get it,” Washington said, referring to Game 6. “Tonight we fought hard for it and the Cardinals got it.”