The Tigers, only three years removed from having the most losses in a season by an AL team and enjoying their first successful season after 12 years of futility, surprised the baseball world by building a ten-game lead in the American League Central, but eventually the lead evaporated in the final months and they lost the division to the Minnesota Twins on the last day of the season after being swept by the last-place Kansas City Royals at home, settling for a playoff berth as the AL Wild Card.

The Cardinals held a seven-game advantage in the National League Central over the Cincinnati Reds and an 8+1⁄2-game lead over the Houston Astros with just two weeks to play.

The Tigers then swept the Oakland Athletics in the ALCS, winning game four on a three-run walk-off home run by Magglio Ordóñez in the bottom of the ninth.

The Cardinals won their series against the New York Mets with the help of a ninth-inning home run by Yadier Molina in a tense Game 7.

The Tigers had home-field advantage in the Series, due to the AL's 3–2 win over the NL in the 77th Major League Baseball All-Star Game on July 11 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

Riding the momentum they built up during their surprisingly easy ALDS and ALCS victories, Detroit entered the Series as a prohibitive favorite.

If the Tigers had defeated the Cardinals, Jim Leyland would have joined Anderson for this feat instead of LaRussa as he had already won the 1997 World Series with the Florida Marlins.

Two rookies faced off in Game 1 for the first time in history: Anthony Reyes for St. Louis and Justin Verlander for Detroit.

In the third inning the Cards broke through, first when Chris Duncan's RBI double scored Yadier Molina to give the Cardinals the lead.

Rogers claimed it was a combination of dirt and rosin (both legal), but complied with a request from the umpires to wash his hands before the second inning.

[14] St. Louis began the scoring in the fourth inning on a bases-loaded two-run double by center fielder Jim Edmonds off of Nate Robertson.

Two more runs would score in the bottom of the seventh on an error by Detroit pitcher Joel Zumaya, who overthrew third baseman Brandon Inge on what should have been a routine force out.

Reliever Braden Looper would pitch a perfect ninth to close out the game and give St. Louis a two-games-to-one advantage in the Series.

In the bottom of the third, the Cardinals struck back with a run-scoring double by David Eckstein, scoring Aaron Miles who had the first stolen base of the series by either team.

The score remained that way, until the bottom of the seventh, when Eckstein led off with a double over the head of Curtis Granderson, who had slipped on the wet Busch Stadium outfield grass.

Later that same inning, Preston Wilson hit a single to left with two outs that scored Taguchi from third and Rodney was charged with a blown save.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Cardinals would regain and keep the lead when Miles scored on a double by Eckstein just off the glove of outfielder Craig Monroe, who had been playing shallow and dove for a ball just out of his reach.

Cardinals pitcher Jeff Weaver (an ex-Tiger) was cruising into the fourth inning, and he appeared to be nowhere near trouble with a lead-off groundout by Guillen, followed by a routine popup by Magglio Ordóñez.

With Ordóñez on via the error, the very next pitch of the game was hit by the hot-hitting Sean Casey into the right-field seats just inside the foul pole for a two-run homer that gave Detroit the lead, 2–1.

The Cardinals would threaten immediately in the bottom of the inning, however, with Yadier Molina and So Taguchi each singling to put runners at first and second with one out.

A David Eckstein single followed by a Preston Wilson walk in the bottom of the seventh put runners at first and second with none out for the heart of the Cardinals order: Pujols, Edmonds, and Rolen.

Fernando Rodney, who gave up the single to Rolen and was charged with the run, managed to retire Ronnie Belliard to end the inning.

Jeff Weaver retired the side in order, and the Cardinals went to the ninth, three outs away from their first World Series title in 24 years.

The man called on to get those three outs would be Adam Wainwright, who had won the job of closer after the star free agent brought to St. Louis in 2002, Jason Isringhausen, had season-ending surgery.

The third batter, Iván Rodríguez, got ahead in the count 2–0 but grounded back to Wainwright on the next pitch, putting the Cardinals one out away.

The fourth batter, Plácido Polanco (who was hitless during the entire series), fell behind 1–2, but then worked a walk to put the tying run on.

The World Series was televised in the United States by Fox, with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver as the booth announcers.

Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr. became enamored of a data-driven analytics and fired long-time general manager Walt Jocketty a day after the 2007 season ended.

The Cardinals also made it to the playoffs as the Wild Card entry in 2011, winning the 2011 National League pennant and going on to beat the Texas Rangers in the 2011 World Series, but failing to defend that title in the 2012 NLCS, losing to the Giants in seven games.

Adam Wainwright won a World Series with the 2006 Cardinals, but missed the entire 2011 championship season due to injury.