91. 1964 St. Louis Cardinals
93-69, NL Champions, Won World Series 4-3 Over New York
Few pennant races in the history of Major League Baseball can compare to the National League’s three-team race in 1964. The St. Louis Cardinals, 11 games out of first place on August 23, made a huge push in the final month of the season and were able to take advantage of one of the biggest collapses in big league history by capturing the pennant on the final day of the regular season.
With a 28-11 record down the stretch, coupled with a 16-23 record over the same stretch by the Philadelphia Phillies, the Cardinals narrowly edged out Philadelphia and the Cincinnati Reds by a single game in the standings with a 93-69 record.
MVP third baseman Ken Boyer (.295/.365/.489, 24 HR, 119 RBI), Hall of Famer Lou Brock (.348/.387/.527, 12 HR, 33 SB), Curt Flood (.311/.356/.378), and Bill White (.303/.355/.474, 21 HR, 102 RBI) led St. Louis offensively, while the great Bob Gibson (19-12, 3.01) anchored a solid starting rotation that also included Curt Simmons (18-9, 3.43) and Ray Sadecki (20-11, 3.68)
Gibson won World Series MVP honors when he slammed the door on the New York Yankees with a victory in Game 7. It was his second win in three starts in the back-and-forth series.