The Cardinals made their 25th trip to the postseason in 2012 after taking the NL Wild Card title by one game over the Atlanta Braves on the last day of the regular season in 2011.
They then played the NL East champion Washington Nationals in the NLDS and beat them in five games to advance to the NLCS against the San Francisco Giants.
[13] On Sunday, April 22 at Pittsburgh, the Cardinals became the first defending world champion team since the 1922 New York Giants to open their title defense with six consecutive series win.
[16] At home on May 22, Adam Wainwright threw his first complete game shutout since August 6, 2010, in a 4−0 victory over the San Diego Padres.
[17] Johan Santana threw the first no-hitter in New York Mets' 51-year history (totaling 8,019 regular season and 74 post-season games previously) with an 8−0 shutout over the Cardinals and Adam Wainwright at Citi Field on June 1.
(box score) Left fielder Mike Baxter robbed Yadier Molina with a great catch in the seventh inning for the 20th out.
Umpire Adrian Johnson ruled a hard grounder by former Met Carlos Beltrán (in his first return to New York) down the third-base line 'foul' although the ball made a mark on the chalk in the sixth inning.
[18][19] The Cardinals were also the first defending World Series champion to be pitched a no-hitter against since the Oakland Athletics in their 1990 pennant season.
[20][21] On the opposite side, Cardinals' pitchers have thrown 10 no-hitters against opponents, the last one by Bud Smith against the San Diego Padres on September 3, 2001.
[23] Carlos Beltrán (of) and Rafael Furcal (ss) won the fan voting to be starters at their positions for the 83rd All-Star Game in Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium on July 10.
Yadier Molina (c) was selected by the players as a reserve for his fourth consecutive year; he ranked second in the voting to starter Buster Posey.
Coaches Derek Lilliquist, Jose Oquendo and Mark McGwire will also be participating in the event, as all are members of La Russa's All-Star staff.
[24] As an added bonus for Beltran, he was also picked to participate in the Home Run Derby contest on July 9, the night before the All-Star Game.
[25] On July 6, after the passing of Yadier Molina's wife's grandfather, he left the team to join his family in Puerto Rico and was put on the bereavement list.
Bryan Anderson was recalled from AAA-Memphis to replace Molina on the Cardinals' roster, with Tony Cruz to start as catcher for the weekend games.
The winners of the final vote were David Freese of the St. Louis Cardinals (NL), and Yu Darvish of the Texas Rangers (AL).
[29][30] On July 3, the team and disabled pitcher Chris Carpenter decided he will have season-ending surgery to repair his thoracic outlet syndrome that has plagued him all year with nerve-related shoulder problems.
The inning-explosion featured 7 doubles, tying a major-league record set by the (NL) 1936 Boston Bees (against the Cardinals at Sportsmen's Park, first inning on August 25), 17 batters with 10 hits including a triple, 2 singles, 2 walks, and a wild pitch.
Shelby Miller got his first major league win as a reliever, in a crucial fourth game of the series, in the 12th-inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 16.
[38] On September 17, the Cardinals announced they were moving their short-season affiliation with the Batavia (NY) Muckdogs to the State College (PA) Spikes in the same New York–Penn League.
It marked the first time in Cardinals' history that five players have hit 20 home runs in a season, with the shutout win against the Houston Astros.
[42] On September 21, Chris Carpenter returned to the rotation for the first time this season after surgery in July, refuting doctors' predictions of no pitching possible in 2012.
[48][49] For the last game of the season at home on October 3, Shelby Miller, who started 2012 as the club's top prospect, made his major league debut as a starter against the Cincinnati Reds.
Infielders Coaches LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Springfield For more information about minor league teams, minor league players and the St. Louis Cardinals organization, see St. Louis Cardinals minor league players and: St. Louis Cardinals Farm System Affiliates 2012 Prospect Watch Cards organization preview, Top 20 Prospects, MLB.com (February 8, 2012) Memphis Redbirds (Memphis Redbirds-AAA roster) Springfield Cardinals (Springfield Cardinals-AA roster) Notes: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; BB = Walks; SO = Strikeouts; GIDP = Grounded into double play; Avg.
The Cardinals' Opening Day game was away against the Miami Marlins on April 4[52] and was nationally televised by ESPN at 6 PM CDT.
Twenty games from April 9 to August 10 were blacked out for those watching Fox Sports Midwest from their AT&T U-verse cable because of a financial dispute between them continuing from the previous year.
Freese hit a two-run homer in the second and Beltrán followed with one in the fourth as the Cardinals knocked out Madison Bumgarner with six runs in 3+2⁄3 innings.
Brandon Crawford followed with an RBI double to make it 6–4 and Lynn left after walking pinch-hitter Aubrey Huff.
Joe Kelly got out of the jam when second baseman Daniel Descalso made a diving stop of Ángel Pagán's grounder up the middle.
Thursday, October 18, 2012 – 8:07 p.m. (EDT) at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri[62] The second-largest crowd of the year 47,062 saw the Cardinals win, 8-3.