2012 St. Louis Cardinals season
Number Name Position
15 Rafael Furcal SS
3 Carlos Beltrán RF
7 Matt Holliday LF
12 Lance Berkman 1B
23 David Freese 3B
4 Yadier Molina C
19 Jon Jay CF
33 Daniel Descalso 2B
26 Kyle Lohse P
Players and Coaching Staff -- Opening Day lineup
The St. Louis Cardinals 2012 season was the 131st season for the franchise in St. Louis, Missouri, the 121st season in the National League, and the seventh at Busch Stadium III. 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 began the 2012 season away against the Miami Marlins on April 4. St. Louis was coming off a 90-72 (.556) season, a second-place finish in the NL Central, the aforementioned wild card berth, and their National League-leading 11th World Series championship. In 2012, they finished with an 88-74 (.543) record and second place in the NL Central. By virtue of coming in second to the Atlanta Braves, they won the second National League Wild Card spot, and then beat the Braves in the Wild Card Game. They then played the NL East champion Washington Nationals in the NLDS and beat them in five games to advance to the NL Championship Series against the San Francisco Giants. However, they lost to the Giants in seven games after leading the series 3 games to 1.