The third-seeded St. Louis Cardinals defeated the heavily favored and top-seeded New York Mets in seven games to advance to the 2006 World Series against the Detroit Tigers.

The Cardinals took the lead with Yadier Molina's two-run home run off Mets reliever Aaron Heilman in the 9th to put his team ahead, 3–1.

The Mets, handicapped after season-ending injuries to Pedro Martínez and Orlando Hernández, qualified for postseason play for the first time since 2000.

The game's only runs came on a two-run homer by Carlos Beltrán off losing pitcher Jeff Weaver in the sixth following a two-out single by Paul Lo Duca.

In the following inning, Juan Encarnación flied out to shallow center to Beltrán, who threw to first on the run to double up Albert Pujols, who went 0-for-3 with a walk.

In the bottom of the second, Endy Chavez hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a groundout and scored on José Reyes's, but Jim Edmonds's home run after a walk tied the game in the third.

Left fielder So Taguchi, a right-hitting defensive replacement homered on the ninth pitch of the at-bat to put the Cardinals ahead, 7–6.

Tyler Johnson and Adam Wainwright retired the Mets in order in the bottom of the ninth as the Cardinals' win tied the series 1–1.

The Cardinals loaded the bases on two walks afterward, but Mets starter Steve Trachsel struck out Yadier Molina looking to end the inning.

Next inning, Suppan's leadoff home run made it 3–0, who then loaded the bases on two walks and a line drive off the bat of Preston Wilson that hit Trachsel, who left with a bruised thigh.

The lead was short-lived, as Scott Spiezio walked with one out, then scored on Juan Encarnación's two-out triple to tie the game.

The game would stay tied until the top of the fifth inning, when Paul Lo Duca reached on an error by Cardinals second baseman Ronnie Belliard, Beltrán managed a walk, and Carlos Delgado scored an opposite-field three-run homer, his third of the series, to make it 5–2 Mets and knock starter Brad Thompson out of the game.

David Eckstein pulled the Cards back in the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff homer, but, in the top of the sixth, the Mets extended the lead.

José Reyes and Paul Lo Duca hit back-to-back singles off of Josh Hancock, and Beltrán walked to load the bases.

Tyler Johnson relieved Hancock and Shawn Green singled to drive in one run and José Valentín, who, at that point, was only 3-for-20 in the playoffs, hit a bases-clearing double down the left field line to make it 11–3.

The Cardinals got home runs from Edmonds and Molina to make it an 11–5 game, but Mets manager Willie Randolph then pulled starter Pérez and bought in submarine pitcher Chad Bradford to try and limit the damage.

Beltrán would tie the NLCS record of seven home runs with another in the seventh off of Braden Looper en route to a final score of 12–5.

Beltrán also tied Babe Ruth for the all-time postseason record of seven home runs against the Cardinals, having hit four against them in the 2004 National League Championship Series while playing for the Houston Astros.

St. Louis padded their lead in the sixth through a pinch-hit home run by rookie Chris Duncan off of Pedro Feliciano that made the final score 4–2, Cardinals.

The Mets jumped out to an early 1–0 lead when David Wright drove in Carlos Beltrán in the first with a bloop single into right field.

Pérez ran into some more trouble in the sixth with a runner on and one out when Scott Rolen hit a long fly ball to left field to create one of the greatest defensive plays in postseason history.

This ball was hit too high for Chávez to catch, and it gave the Cardinals a 3–1 lead, with only three outs in the bottom of the ninth separating them from a pennant.

This was the last playoff game played in Shea Stadium and the last postseason appearance for the Mets until 2015, six years after Citi Field opened.

They had dominated the National League that season, winning 97 games when no one else won more than 88, and they had a deep and young core, with Beltran, Wright, and Reyes being under 30 (the latter two being under 25).

Supporting those three were Hall of Fame caliber players such as Carlos Delgado, Tom Glavine, Pedro Martínez, and Billy Wagner.

Following this, they suffered through six straight losing seasons and ultimately would not return to the postseason until 2015 - in which they won their fifth NL Pennant in franchise history - when Wright was the only Met from 2006 still on the roster.