By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff
The St. Louis Cardinals just beat the Texas Rangers, 6-2, to win the World Series. A team hopelessly out of it on Sept. 1 came back again and again to win the title.
The Cardinals were 90-72 — the same record as the Red Sox, by the way — and won with a rotation of Chris Carpenter, Jaime Garcia, Kyle Lohse, Edwin Jackson and Jake Westbrook. Sometimes it's not the best team, it's the team that plays the best.
Carpenter, the pride of New Hampshire, allowed two runs over six innings on three days' rest to win Game 7. He was immense in the postseason.
Now comes what should be a fascinating offseason. The Red Sox will hire a manager and their rookie GM will build his first team. Prominent free agents include Heath Bell, Prince Fielder, David Ortiz, Jonathan Papelbon, Albert Pujols, Jose Reyes, Jimmy Rollins and C.J. Wilson.
Per a new agreement between MLB and the MLBPA, free agents can begin speaking to teams at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday and can sign starting at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday.
The games are over. The offseason is just getting started. Hope you hang with us at Extra Bases all winter.
