The St. Louis Cardinals are on the verge of repeating history of the 1996 NLCS Game 7 as will square off against the San Francisco Giants.
The Cardinals' franchise has plenty of Game 7s in their past and there is one not many remember. It was 1996 against the Atlanta Braves and the Cardinals had a 3-1 lead in the series, similar to the lead they had in this series against the Giants, which is now tied 3-3.
The Cardinals had a chance to close out the 1996 NLCS in Games 5, 6 and 7, but the Braves came back to win the series in dominant fashion.
The Braves took the first game of the series 4-2. Then lost three consecutive games before taking the series.
The Cardinals had guys like Ron Gant, Gary Gaetti, Brian Jordan and Dennis Eckersley in their squad. These guys won Game 2 by the score of 8-3, Game 3 by the score of 3-2 and Game 4 by the score of 4-3.
In those wins they defeated Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Danny Neagle.
Gant scorched his former team with two homers in Game 3, but the Braves pitching staff decided to show up after Game 4 putting the Cardinals offense on check.
Smoltz took the mound in Game 5 and shut the Cardinals in St. Louis, taking the series back to Atlanta. The Braves won a close Game 6, 3-1 with Maddux on the mound and then Glavine shutout the Cardinals in Game 7 for the victory.
The Braves pitching staffed rose to the occasion allowing only one run in those three last games and the offense gave them ammo, scoring a total of 32 runs in those victories.
The 1996 World Series could have easily been Cardinals versus the New York Yankees.
So far in the Cardinals 2012 NLCS, they have matched some of the offensive production. Most noticeably, the fact that they have lost two consecutive games and only scored once in the loses. They have been outscored 11-1 in Games 5 and 6.
The Cardinals have battled from Game 7 adversities in the past. More recently in 2006 when they beat the heavy favorite New York Mets. Though not an NLCS Game 7 victory, they won the 2011 World Series in Game 7 against the Texas Rangers.
The Cardinals will have to pull out a win on Monday in order to avoid repeating their past.
Game 7 is today at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.