The 2004 Cardinals were the best Cardinals team of my lifetime; their 105 wins are one off the franchise record, and their .648 winning percentage was their second-highest non-WWII mark since joining the National League in 1892, bested only by the 1931 Word Champions who finished 101-53 (.656). [The 1942-44 pennant winners all won at least 105 games and have the three highest winning percentages in team history, but that came during World War II when league competitiveness varied wildly due to depleted rosters from players entering the service.]

The 2004 squad was powered by its offense, with Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds, and Scott Rolen each having a monster season, and anchored by a solid but unspectacular rotation, with all five primary starters pitching between 188 and 202 innings with an ERA+ between 90 (Matt Morris) and 122 (Chris Carpenter).

Though the hitters were the obvious focus of the team—a nickname for the aforementioned trio was “MV3″—the bullpen was the secret weapon. Jason Isringhausen led the league in saves with 47, and the team featured two pairs of lights-out set-up men, righties Julian Tavarez (19 holds) and Kiko Calero (12 holds), and lefties Steve Kline (15 holds) and Ray King, who led the team with 32 holds.