The war over, baseball fans anticipated turning full attention to the game with its stars back from military duty. 1946 turned out to be one of the most exciting pennant races in history.

Even though the Cardinals were heavily favored to win at the start of the season, they fell 7 1/2 games behind in early July before closing the gap that continued with neither the Dodgers or Redbirds leading by more than 2 1/2 all the way through September. They ended up with identical 96-58 records at the end of the regular season to force the first ever best of three playoff for the NL title.

Led by Musial's MVP heroics, the Cardinals led the National League in batting and fielding, but also topped the league in earned run average.