1946 National League tie-breaker series
The Cardinals swept the Dodgers behind wins from pitchers Howie Pollet and Murry Dickson, thus advancing to the 1946 World Series in which they defeated the Boston Red Sox, four games to three.
In the first season of baseball since the conclusion of World War II, all ballplayers who had served in the military were returning to their former teams.
[4] In a pre-season poll of 119 sportswriters, 115 picked the Cardinals to win the National League, while none selected the Dodgers.
[5] Cardinals manager Eddie Dyer said that talk about his team being a "shoo-in" to win the pennant was devised by Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey to ease the pressure on them, and increase pressure on the Cardinals, noting that he felt Brooklyn was the clear favorite.
[6] The Dodgers spent the first month of the season creating a "youth movement" on their club, allowing younger players to have significant playing time.
When the team was in first place in the middle of May, however, manager Leo Durocher dropped the idea and instead focused on winning the pennant.
[7] Dyer said at the start of the season that as long as St. Louis was within five games of first place on July 4, they would win the pennant race.
[8] The Cardinals rebounded, and on August 22, after winning both games of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies, the clubs were tied, 71–45.
On September 29, St. Louis and Brooklyn were again tied with just one game left to play against the Chicago Cubs and Boston Braves, respectively.
[12] Branca took the mound in the bottom of the first, striking out Red Schoendienst and allowing a single to Terry Moore.
After National League MVP Musial struck out, Enos Slaughter singled and Whitey Kurowski walked to load the bases.
Reese scored on Schultz's hit, but Slaughter threw Edwards out at third base A groundout by Bob Ramazzotti ended the threat with the Cardinals leading, 3–2.
After Musial tripled and Slaughter flied out, he was replaced by Rube Melton, the fifth and final pitcher the Dodgers used.
[17] In the top of the eighth, Dickson struck out, while Red Schoendienst singled and Moore doubled.
Musial was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Kurowski singled, allowing two baserunners to score and making the game 8–1 in favor of the Cardinals.
After another walk, Higbe was replaced on the pitcher's mound by Rube Melton, who got the final two outs of the inning.
They inserted Harry Taylor to pitch the top half of the ninth, in which, he held St. Louis hitless.
[20] After Brooklyn lost the series, rumors of Durocher leaving to manage the New York Yankees, which had started in the final days of the regular season, resurfaced.
As a result, Musial and Slaughter led the league with 156 games played, which could not have been equaled by anyone but a Brooklyn or St. Louis player.
[23] Murry Dickson's victory in the second game gave him 15 wins and six losses on the season; this brought his win–loss percentage to .714, which led the National League.
