St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals finished the 2013 regular season at 97–65, earning the best record in the National League. They set a new Major League Baseball record for hitting efficiency with runners in scoring position, hitting .330 (447–for–1,355), the best in baseball since the Boston Red Sox hit .312 in 1950,^[10] also beating the 2007 Detroit Tigers, and 1996 Colorado Rockies with a .311 average.^[11]

Despite losing first baseman Albert Pujols to the Angels and manager Tony La Russa to retirement after their 2011 World Series triumph, the Cardinals under new manager Mike Matheny still came within one game of a return trip to the World Series, but lost the final three games to the eventual World Series champion San Francisco Giants in the 2012 National League Championship Series. However, with the help of Matheny and general manager John Mozeliak, the Cardinals were able to stay in contention even with a roster consisting mostly of rookies, free-agent veteran additions, and a few holdovers from the 2011 championship team.

The Cardinals' offense was led by catcher Yadier Molina, second baseman Matt Carpenter, and first baseman Allen Craig, all of whom finished in the top 10 in batting average. They were joined by outfielders Carlos Beltrán and Matt Holliday, third baseman David Freese, and first baseman Matt Adams. The Cardinals' pitching staff were led by Adam Wainwright, who returned to form after posting an NL-leading 19 wins. Wainwright was joined by youngsters Lance Lynn, Joe Kelly, Shelby Miller, and late-season call-up Michael Wacha. Wainwright's return to form, along with the emergence of the young starters, helped fill the void left by star pitcher Chris Carpenter, who missed the entire season due to various injuries. The bullpen were also powered by youngsters, led by closer Trevor Rosenthal, set-up man Carlos Martínez, and middle relievers Seth Maness and Kevin Siegrist.

The top-seeded Cardinals opened the playoffs by defeating the #4 seed Pittsburgh Pirates in five games in the Division Series. Then, in their third consecutive National League Championship Series appearance, St. Louis defeated the third-seeded Los Angeles Dodgers four games to two for their 19th National League pennant.^[12]

The Massachusetts State House displaying a banner in honor of the Boston Red Sox's 2013 World Series appearance

Boston Red Sox

After finishing last in the AL East with a 69–93 record in 2012, the Red Sox fired Bobby Valentine and hired John Farrell as their new manager.^[13] Under Farrell, the team finished the 2013 regular season at 97–65, the best record in the American League.^[14]

In the aftermath of the infamous September collapse in 2011 and the ill-fated Valentine experiment of 2012, general manager Ben Cherington brought in Farrell, a former pitching coach under Terry Francona, and several role players in hopes of turning the Red Sox around. The Boston Marathon bombing on April 15 helped inspire a season-long rally for the Red Sox in support of the victims and the city of Boston. In games after the marathon, the Red Sox hung a jersey on the dugout saying Boston Strong and 617, representing the city's area code. The team also wore "B Strong" patches in their uniforms. In addition, some of the Red Sox players grew beards during the season as a sign of unity. The inspired play of the Red Sox took them from last place the previous season to American League East champions with a 28-game turnaround, helped by Farrell's calming presence and familiarity with some of the players.^[15]

Boston's offense was powered by designated hitter David Ortiz, who hit .309 during the season. They also relied on the baserunning exploits of center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, whose 52 stolen bases led the major leagues, while right fielder Shane Victorino, second baseman Dustin Pedroia, first baseman Mike Napoli, catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and outfielder Jonny Gomes helped the Red Sox to a league-leading 853 runs scored. The pitching staff was led by Jon Lester, who rebounded from a miserable 2012 campaign to post a 15–8 record and 3.75 ERA. Lester was joined by Clay Buchholz, John Lackey and midseason acquisition Jake Peavy. The bullpen were led by closer Koji Uehara, who unexpectedly took over following injuries to Joel Hanrahan and Andrew Bailey to post 21 saves and a 1.09 ERA. He was joined by compatriot and set-up man Junichi Tazawa, and middle relievers Brandon Workman and Craig Breslow. While Stephen Drew and David Ross were limited offensively, their defense proved to be an asset to the team's success, especially during the postseason.

The top-seeded Red Sox opened the playoffs by defeating the fifth-seeded Tampa Bay Rays in four games in the Division Series. Then in the American League Championship Series, the Red Sox defeated the third-seeded Detroit Tigers in six games to win their 13th American League pennant.

Game 1

Fenway Park during the pregame ceremony

Boston Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski threw the ceremonial first pitch,^[22] as he had done before Game 1 in 2004 and 2007. After Boston starter Jon Lester pitched a scoreless top half of the first inning, St. Louis ace Adam Wainwright found trouble in the bottom of the inning. He walked leadoff batter Jacoby Ellsbury and after an out, Dustin Pedroia singled. Wainwright then got David Ortiz to ground to second base, but Matt Carpenter's flip was mishandled by shortstop Pete Kozma, ending the possibility of a double play. Initially, the Cardinals had been awarded a force-out at second base, but after conferring, the umpires ruled that Kozma never had control of the ball, and Pedroia was reinstated at second base. With the bases loaded and one out, Mike Napoli doubled to left-center, scoring Ellsbury, Pedroia and Ortiz, the latter after Shane Robinson misplayed a carom off the wall. In the bottom of the second inning, Stephen Drew led off with a pop-up in front of the pitcher's mound. Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina both converged, but both let the ball drop for a leadoff single. David Ross then singled to center field, followed by a flyout by Ellsbury. Shane Victorino then hit a ground ball to deep short, but Kozma again mishandled it, his second error of the game, and once again the bases were loaded with one out. Pedroia then singled under the glove of a diving David Freese to make the score 4–0. Ortiz then hit a deep fly to right field, but was robbed of a grand slam by Carlos Beltrán. Ross did tag and score to give Boston a 5–0 lead. Beltrán would leave the game, with Robinson moving to right field, and Jon Jay taking over in center. Meanwhile, Lester was brilliant for the Red Sox, pitching 7+2⁄3 scoreless innings. The Red Sox added to their lead in the bottom of the seventh with Ortiz hitting a two-run home run off Kevin Siegrist to give them a 7–0 lead. After the Red Sox plated another run in the eighth inning, the Cardinals finally got on the board with Matt Holliday leading off the ninth with a home run off Ryan Dempster. Dempster recovered and closed out the 8–1 victory by striking out Matt Adams.^[23][24][25] Lester was accused of using a foreign substance on his glove, but he claimed that it was just rosin, which is legal, and the Cardinals organization elected to not file a complaint.^[26]

Game 2

Game 2 pitted the NLCS MVP Michael Wacha against the Red Sox' John Lackey. Several members of the 2004 Red Sox championship team, including Pedro Martínez, threw ceremonial first pitches.^[27] After three scoreless innings, Matt Holliday led off the fourth inning for the Cardinals with a triple to center field. After Matt Adams lined out, catcher Yadier Molina grounded out softly to Dustin Pedroia to score Holliday and give the Cardinals a 1–0 lead. The Red Sox threatened in the bottom half as the first two batters reached with Pedroia leading off with a double and David Ortiz drawing a walk. Mike Napoli then grounded into a double play to partially kill the threat and Wacha got Jonny Gomes to pop out to Matt Carpenter to end the inning. In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Red Sox finally got on the scoreboard, as Pedroia walked with one out and Ortiz hit a two-run home run to left center field on a 3–2 changeup to give the Red Sox a 2–1 lead. In the seventh inning, the Red Sox' defense let them down. With one out and the bases loaded (David Freese walked, Jon Jay singled and Daniel Descalso walked), Carpenter hit a fly ball to Gomes in left field for the second out. With Pete Kozma, who pinch-ran for Freese, scoring on the throw, the ball got away from catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Jay and Descalso attempted to advance on the misplay and pitcher Craig Breslow, who was backing up on the play, tried to get Jay at third but his throw was wild and went into the stands. Jay scored and Descalsco went to third as the Cardinals now led 3–2. Carlos Beltrán then singled to right to score Descalso and give the Cardinals a 4–2 lead. Things got a little interesting in the bottom of the eighth inning. With Carlos Martinez on the mound for the Cardinals, the Red Sox had Jacoby Ellsbury reach on an error and after two strikeouts, Ortiz reached on a single. With two outs, Martinez jammed Napoli and he popped out to short to end the inning. In the bottom of the ninth with the 4–2 lead, Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal entered the game and made quick work of the Red Sox by striking out Gomes, Saltalamacchia and pinch-hitter Daniel Nava on 17 pitches. The Cardinals evened up the series at one game each as the series shifted to St. Louis for the next three games.

This was the Red Sox first World Series loss since Game 7 in 1986, and St. Louis snapped Boston's nine-game winning streak in the World Series.

Game 3

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown by 1985 NL MVP Willie McGee.^[27] The Cardinals got off to a good start in the bottom of the first inning, putting two on the board from RBI singles by Matt Holliday and Yadier Molina off of Boston starter Jake Peavy. It wasn't until the top of the fifth inning before the Red Sox got on the board themselves, when pinch hitter Mike Carp grounded into a fielder's choice off Cardinals starter Joe Kelly. In the next inning, Boston tied the game at 2–2 on a Daniel Nava single. But in the bottom of the seventh, Matt Holliday hit a line drive off of reliever Junichi Tazawa that just got past a diving Will Middlebrooks that drove in two, and Holliday advanced to third on the throw. Even though this happened with no outs, Holliday was stranded at third. Boston quickly responded in the top of the eighth by loading the bases off Carlos Martínez. Trevor Rosenthal came in to pitch, and the first batter he faced, Daniel Nava, grounded in to a fielder's choice, after a great diving stop by rookie second baseman Kolten Wong. The next batter, Xander Bogaerts, bounced a ball up the middle for an RBI single of his own, knotting the game at 4–4.^[28]

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Boston reliever Brandon Workman stayed in, having pitched in the eighth inning and having batted in the top of the ninth, striking out in his first professional at bat.^[29] He gave up a one out single to Molina. Boston closer Koji Uehara was brought in to face pinch hitter Allen Craig, who doubled on the first pitch. With one out, Jon Jay hit a grounder to second baseman Dustin Pedroia. He made a diving stab and threw home to catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who tagged out the sliding Molina. But then Saltalamacchia threw to third trying to get Craig, who was running on the play. Saltalamacchia's throw was wide, and it pulled third baseman Will Middlebrooks toward the second-base side of the bag. Middlebrooks tried to keep the ball on the infield, but it skipped into foul territory. Craig slid into third, popped up and started for home. He made contact with Middlebrooks, who was lying face-first on the dirt, with his feet in the air. Craig fell, got back up and ran home. Saltalamacchia, receiving the throw from foul territory, applied the tag to the sliding Craig. However, the third base umpire, Jim Joyce, called obstruction on the play; home plate umpire Dana DeMuth determined that Craig would have scored without the obstruction, giving the Cardinals the win and a 2–1 lead in the World Series. The Red Sox were furious about the call, as manager John Farrell stayed out to argue the call, as did most of the players. They protested that Middlebrooks' feet were in the air as he was getting up when Craig ran over him.^[30]

The largest paid crowd in the history of Busch Stadium (47,432) saw the game. It was the first time in a World Series game that a winning play was on an obstruction call and only the second time in baseball history.^[31]

As of 2023, this is the Cardinals' last win in a World Series.

Game 4

The largest paid crowd in the history of Busch Stadium (47,469) saw the game, surpassing the previous night's record attendance. Hall of Famer and two-time World Series MVP Bob Gibson threw the ceremonial first pitch.^[27] After Boston starter Clay Buchholz, pitching through a shoulder injury, was removed for a pinch-hitter after four innings, five Red Sox relievers combined to hold St. Louis to one run on three hits the rest of the way. In the sixth inning, the bases were empty with two outs before Dustin Pedroia singled and David Ortiz walked. Then, outfielder Jonny Gomes came to bat and the Cardinals brought in Seth Maness to face him. Gomes worked the count to 2–2 before he broke the tie with a three-run homer that would become the difference in the game. The game ended when Boston closer Koji Uehara picked off pinch runner Kolten Wong with Carlos Beltrán at the plate, making it the first postseason game in baseball history to end on a pickoff.^[32] (However, it was not the first time a World Series game ended with a runner being tagged out during an at-bat; in the 1926 World Series, Babe Ruth was caught stealing for the final out of Game 7.)

Felix Doubront pitched 2+2⁄3 innings out of the bullpen to earn his first career postseason win. John Lackey, who pitched a scoreless eighth, made his first relief appearance since 2004 and first in the postseason since 2002.^[33]

Game 5

Hall of Fame inductee Ozzie Smith threw the ceremonial first pitch.^[27] In a rematch of the staff who faced off in Game 1, Jon Lester again outdueled Adam Wainwright to give the Red Sox a 3–2 series lead.^[34] Boston scored first for the first time since Game 1 when Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz hit back-to-back doubles with one out in the first.^[35] Matt Holliday tied the score with a home run to center in the fourth inning, but it would be the only run Lester would allow over strong 7+2⁄3 innings of work. Wainwright matched Lester until the seventh inning, when a ground-rule RBI double by David Ross and RBI single by Jacoby Ellsbury scored Xander Bogaerts and Stephen Drew to give Boston a 3–1 lead.^[36] Koji Uehara relieved Lester with two outs in the eighth and retired all four Cardinals he faced to earn his second save of the series.^[37][38][39]

Uehara tied John Wetteland, Robb Nen, Troy Percival, and Brad Lidge for most saves in one postseason year, with 7 (since then, Greg Holland matched this record the next year). In addition, Lester joined Babe Ruth as the only Red Sox lefthanders to win three World Series games.^[40]

Game 6

External videos
Game 6 Full replay on the MLB's official YouTube channel

Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame members Carlton Fisk and Luis Tiant, both of whom played in historic Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, threw ceremonial first pitches.^[27] Boston won Game 6 in a rout, by scoring six runs on the Cardinals rookie Michael Wacha, who had previously been unbeaten in the playoffs.^[41] World Series Most Valuable Player David Ortiz was walked by the Cardinals four times, and scored twice. Boston's Shane Victorino opened the scoring with a three-run double in the third inning^[42] and had four runs batted in.^[43] Red Sox pitcher John Lackey pitched six scoreless innings. The Cardinals only seriously threatened in the seventh inning when they scored on Carlos Beltrán's single and had the bases loaded with two outs, but Boston reliever Junichi Tazawa got the final out.^[41] Koji Uehara came in again to pitch a perfect ninth, striking out Matt Carpenter swinging to end the game, series, baseball season, and clinch their eighth overall title.

With this win, Boston won the championship at Fenway Park for the first time since 1918.^{[44][45][46][47]} The win was the third championship in the last ten seasons for the Red Sox. This was the most recent World Series in which the championship was won by the home team until 2020, which the Dodgers won the series clinching Game 6 as the home team (Game 6 in 2020 was not played at Dodger Stadium due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic). The next time a team won at their home stadium was when the Houston Astros won the 2022 World Series.^[48]

The average list price on the resale market for a ticket to Game 6 was $1,860, according to TiqIQ, a ticket tracking company.^[49][50] This was the final World Series of the 2010s in which the home team won a deciding game and received the Commissioner's Trophy on their home field.

Composite line score

2013 World Series (4–2): Boston Red Sox (A.L.) beat St. Louis Cardinals (N.L.)

Television

Fox televised the series in the United States and Canada, with Joe Buck calling play-by-play and Tim McCarver handling color commentary. This was McCarver's 24th and final World Series broadcast (including four with ABC and four with CBS prior to his joining Fox in 1996), as he had announced that he would retire from the network's lead crew following the season.^[52][53] Working with Buck and McCarver were field reporters Ken Rosenthal and Erin Andrews.^[54]

Pregame coverage was handled by host Matt Vasgersian, joined by regular analyst Harold Reynolds. They were joined by special guest analysts A. J. Pierzynski of the Texas Rangers (his third consecutive World Series as a guest analyst), and Jimmy Rollins of the Philadelphia Phillies.

A partnership with Fox Sports featured Pearl Jam as the November artist of month for all entities within the Fox Sports domain and licensed 48 songs from their catalogue to play during the 2013 World Series. The group's music was included in anything from "opening teases and commercial bumpers to montages, as well as additional promotional inventory across Fox prime-time and cable."^[55]

Major League Baseball International syndicated the television coverage outside Canada and the U.S., with English-language commentary provided by Baltimore Orioles play-by-play announcer Gary Thorne and ESPN analyst Rick Sutcliffe.

Radio

ESPN Radio broadcast the series in the U.S., with commentators Dan Shulman and Orel Hershiser. Locally, the two teams' flagship radio stations broadcast the series with their respective announcing crews. Mike Shannon and John Rooney called the games for the Cardinals on KMOX in St. Louis, while Joe Castiglione, Dave O'Brien, and Lou Merloni announced for the Red Sox on WEEI in Boston.

Red Sox

Red Sox at the White House with President Obama on April 1, 2014

The 2013 World Series triumph would be the pinnacle of the John Farrell era. The Red Sox went from first to worst in the AL East following the 2014 season, finishing with a 71–91 record. The next season, they improved their record to 78–84, though still in last place in the AL East. In both 2016 and 2017, the Red Sox finished atop the AL East with identical 93–69 records; however, both seasons ended in the division series, losing to the Cleveland Indians 3–0 in the 2016 ALDS, and the Houston Astros 3–1 in the 2017 ALDS. After the 2017 season, Farrell was fired and replaced by Alex Cora, who managed the Red Sox to the 2018 World Series championship.

The Farrell era oversaw the departure of Ben Cherington and the entry of Dave Dombrowski as general manager, the retirement of David Ortiz following the 2016 season, and the emergence of Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr., Brock Holt, Christian Vázquez, Eduardo Rodríguez and Rafael Devers. All-Star caliber players David Price, JD Martinez, Chris Sale and Craig Kimbrel also joined the team. Those players would form the core of the 2018 champion Red Sox, managed by Alex Cora. However, the Red Sox also signed high-priced free agent flops Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramírez, neither of whom became productive players.

Jon Lester, David Ross, John Lackey, Jake Peavy and Franklin Morales would win another World Series with different teams: Peavy with the 2014 Giants, Morales with the 2015 Royals, and Lackey, Lester and Ross with the 2016 Cubs.

Cardinals

The Cardinals' 2013 World Series appearance was also the pinnacle of the Mike Matheny era. In 2014, the Cardinals made their fourth consecutive NLCS after a 90–72 finish and the NL Central title, but lost to the eventual champion San Francisco Giants 4–1. The following season, they won 100 games to once again clinch the NL Central, but lost to their archrival Chicago Cubs in the NLDS. The Cardinals' 86–76 finish in 2016 and 83–79 finish in 2017 ended without a postseason appearance. Midway through the 2018 season, Matheny was fired and replaced by Mike Shildt.

Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina would become life-time Cardinals, never playing for another team in their careers. In 2022, they would set the all-time wins record for a battery with their 203rd victory, passing pitcher Warren Spahn and catcher Del Crandall.^[68]

Carlos Beltrán, Joe Kelly and Matt Adams would later win the World Series with different teams: Beltrán with the 2017 Astros, Kelly with the 2018 Red Sox and 2020 Dodgers, and Adams with the 2019 Nationals.