This is part of an ongoing series chronicling the greatest teams in Cardinal history. If you’d like to see the others featured, please browse them all by CLICKING HERE.

In our fifth installment of the Cardinals greatest teams, we look back at one of the more recent teams, the 2005 St. Louis Cardinals. Like the 2004 team they were good enough to win the World Series, but were not lucky enough to advance that far. They lost in six games to the Astros in the NLCS which also makes them the least advanced of the Cardinal teams on this list, but that does not mean that they were not great. The amount of talent, the regular season numbers, and the great memories are what makes the 2005 St. Louis Cardinals one of the greatest of all time, here is an inside look:

Record: 100-62 NLDS Champs, NL Central Champs

Roster:

Manager: Tony La Russa

Rotation: Chris Carpenter (21-5, 2.83 ERA, 213 K’s), Jason Marquis (13-14, 4.13 ERA, 100 K’s), Mark Mulder(16-8, 3.64 ERA, 111 K’s), Jeff Suppan (16-10, 3.57 ERA, 114 K’s), Matt Morris(14-10, 4.11 ERA, 117 K’s.)

Bullpen: Julian Taveraz (2-3, 3.43 ERA, 47 K’s, 4 Saves), Al Reyes (4-2, 2.15 ERA, 67 K’s), Randy Flores (3-1, 3.46 ERA, 43 K’s), Ray King(4-4, 3.38 ERA, 23 K’s), Cal Eldred (1-0, 2.19 ERA, 29 K’s.)

Closer: Jason Isringhausen (1-2, 2.14 ERA, 39 saves, 71 K’s)

Catchers: Yadier Molina (.252 AVG, 8 HR, 42 RBI), Einar Diaz (.208 AVG, 1 HR, 17 RBI)

Infielders: Albert Pujols (.330, 41 HR, 117 RBI, 16 SB), Mark Grudzelanek (.294 AVG, 8 HR, 59 RBI), David Eckstein (.294 AVG, 8 HR, 61 RBI), Scott Rolen (.235 AVG, 5 HR, 28 RBI), Abraham Nunez(.285 AVG, 5 HR, 44 RBI), Hector Luna (.285 AVG, 1 HR, 28 RBI.)

Outfielders: Reggie Sanders(.271, 21 HR, 54 RBI, 14 SB), Jim Edmonds (.263 AVG, 29 HR, 89 RBI), Larry Walker (.289 AVG, 15 HR, 52 RBI), John Mabry (.240 AVG, 8 HR, 32 RBI), So Taguchi (.288 AVG, 8 HR, 53 RBI.)

Awards won:

MVP- Albert Pujols

Cy Young- Chris Carpenter

Gold Glove: Jim Edmonds

Silver Slugger: Jason Marquis

Player Highlights:

• Albert Pujols led the NL with 129 runs scored.
• Chris Carpenter became only the second Cardinal to win the Cy Young award.
• Chris Carpenter led the NL with seven complete games.
• One of the most memorable moments in Cardinals history occurred in Game 5 of the NLCS where Houston closer Brad Lidge elected to pitch to Albert Pujols and the result was the hardest hit ball he may have ever had, a towering game winning home run that continued the series to go to St. Louis.
• This team featured two  of our Cardinal Legends, Matt Morris and Jim Edmonds.
• This marked the first time since 1968 that the Cardinals had both the MVP and Cy Young award winners on their team.

Season Highlights: