Favored by few, the St. Louis Cardinals used an unlikely cast of characters to win their first World Series in nearly a quarter century. Manager Tony La Russa's Cards had just won 83 regular-season wins, the fewest by a World Series winner, and nearly missed the playoffs after a late-season slump. But the Cardinals beat San Diego and the New York Mets in the playoffs, then won their first title since 1982 by taming a heavily favored Tigers team that entered the Series with six days' rest. Cardinals Rule follows all of the post-season action from the first pitch to the final out of one of the more improbable triumphs in World Series history.