On Aug. 25, the St. Louis Cardinals were 10 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL wild card race. The division title was out of reach, as the Brewers rampaged through the NL Central, so it appeared that St. Louis would be out of the postseason for the fourth time in five years.

On Wednesday, they'll be playing to win their second World Series in six years.

The Cardinals are a most unlikely World Series participant. They only got here after winning 24 of their final 33 regular-season games, clinching on the final day to get by the slumping Braves, who lost their last five. They shocked the heavily-favored Phillies in five games in the NLDS and then beat their division rival Brewers in the NLCS. In the World Series, they'll again be an underdog, to the two-time AL champion Texas Rangers.

A St. Louis victory in the Fall Classic would rival its 2006 achievement in terms of becoming unlikely World Series champions. The 2006 Cardinals won just 83 games - the fewest total of any champion in baseball history - and limped into the playoffs after losing nine of their last 12. There have been other unlikely winners, especially in the wild card era, when the requirement of winning three series made the postseason more of a crapshoot than it's been in the past.

But even before the advent of the wild card and three divisions, there have been surprising World Series winners. Some did it by defying the odds during the regular season while others in the postseason - and some did both, in dramatic fashion. These are our Top 10 Most Unlikely World Series Winners (in the division era):