(Sports Network) - Two of the most storied franchises in major league history will battle in the 102nd edition of the World Series, as the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers get the best-of-seven matchup underway on Saturday at Comerica Park.

If someone would have told you at the beginning of the postseason that these two teams would be the last two standing, you would have laughed them out of the building. And who could have blamed you? Both teams played below-.500 baseball after the All-Star break and both came into the postseason as cold as any team could be.

St. Louis, only the 13th winningest team in baseball this season with 83 victories, held a seven-game lead in the NL Central on September 19, but lost nine of its final 12 games to let the Houston Astros back into contention up until the season's final day.

Only one team in history -- the 1973 Mets (82-79) -- ever won fewer games than the Cardinals and made it to a World Series. No team, though, has ever won fewer games and won a World Series.

Detroit, meanwhile, also limped into the playoffs, as it became the 18th team since 1900 to fall out of first place on the final day of the regular season. The feel-good story of the 2006 season, the Tigers were in first place since mid-May and were up by as many as 10 games at one point before relinquishing it to the Minnesota Twins in heartbreaking fashion on the final day of the regular season.

Needing only one win, Detroit lost its last five games and blew a six-run lead to hapless Kansas City at home on the final day of the regular season, as the Royals rallied to complete a three-game sweep with an extra-inning win.

Those late collapses seem like distant memories now, as the Tigers have steamrolled their way into their 10th World Series and their first since winning it all in 1984, while the Cardinals will be playing in their second Fall Classic in three years and their 17th in franchise history.

The Cardinals, though, needed all seven games in the NLCS to advance, as they captured a thrilling Game 7 from the New York Mets, 3-1, on Thursday at Shea Stadium. Yadier Molina belted a two-run homer in the ninth inning, and the Cardinals escaped a bases-loaded jam to end the game.

Jeff Suppan threw spectacular ball into the eighth inning and Adam Wainwright worked out of the jam in the ninth, getting Carlos Beltran to look at a called third strike to preserve the nail-biting win for St. Louis.

Ronnie Belliard drove in the other run for the Cardinals, who were swept by Boston in the 2004 World Series and will now try to win their first title since beating Milwaukee in 1982.

The big knock on the Cardinals entering the playoffs was that they did not have much to offer in the starting pitching department other than reigning Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter. Suppan and Jeff Weaver apparently did not get that memo.

Suppan, the NLCS MVP, allowed one run in 15 innings as the Cardinals won both his starts against the Mets, while Weaver, who was released by the LA Angels of Anaheim earlier in the season after going 3-10 for them, has allowed just four earned runs in 16 2/3 innings this postseason.

St. Louis, though, will give the ball to rookie right-hander Anthony Reyes in Game 1 tonight. Reyes started Game 4 of the NLCS against the New York Mets and allowed two runs on three hits in four innings of work. He received a no- decision in St. Louis' 12-5 setback on Sunday.

In 17 regular-season starts, Reyes went 5-8 with a 5.06 ERA.

The move to have Reyes go in the opener allows St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa to have Weaver and Carpenter pitch on full rest. Had he gone with the same rotation he did in the NLCS, Weaver and Carpenter would have been pitching on just three days' rest.

Albert Pujols was a big part of the Cardinals NLDS win, as he was 5-for-8 in the first two games of the series with the Padres, but was held hitless over the final two contests. He managed to go 7-for-22 against the Mets, but managed just one home run and one RBI in the series.

Detroit, just three years removed from losing an AL record 119 games, lost Game 1 of the ALDS to the heavily-favored and high-priced New York Yankees, but since then has won a team-record seven straight postseason games, including a dominating four-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics in the ALCS.

The only problem is their clinching win over the A's came last Saturday and the Tigers will have had a six-day layoff when they take the field on Saturday. Only three other teams in the modern era -- the 1996 New York Yankees, '95 Atlanta Braves and '46 Boston Red Sox -- have gone on to the World Series with six days of rest. However, none of those teams faced an opponent that had just one day of rest going into the Fall Classic like the Cardinals.

What has been the key for Detroit? Well the answer is simple. Pitching, pitching and some more pitching. Kenny Rogers, who always had the label of not being a big-game pitcher, has been absolutely incredible for the Tigers. The 41-year-old left- hander has erased his playoff demons and has not allowed a run in 15 innings of his two starts -- both wins. Rogers had been brutal in his playoff career up until this point, going 0-3 with an 8.85 ERA in nine games.

Rookie Justin Verlander and Jeremy Bonderman have also done their part. Verlander, the likely AL Rookie of the Year, is 1-0 with a 5.91 ERA this postseason, while Bonderman has posted a 1-0 mark to go along with a 3.00 ERA.

Jim Leyland will hand the ball to Verlander tonight. The No. 2 pick of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft, Verlander has emerged as one of the best young power pitchers in the game. His fastball has been clocked as high as 99 mph, and that mixed in with a plus curveball and a decent changeup make him almost unhittable when all three are working.

Verlander, who was 17-9 with a 3.63 ERA, picked up a win against the Cardinals in the regular season and allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings.

It is the first time in history that a pair of rookies will be on the hill to open the World Series.

Detroit may have caught a break with the long layoff, as it gave a couple of regulars a chance to heal. Twenty-one year- old set-up man Joel Zumaya, who regularly hits 100 mph on the radar gun when healthy, missed all but one game of the ALCS with wrist injury. However the right-hander says he is ready to go. As is first baseman Sean Casey, who had an outstanding ALDS (.353, 4 RBI), but injured his calf in Game 1 against the A's and was sidelined the remainder of the ALCS.

Casey will likely be Leyland's designated hitter tonight, as well as on Sunday. Hopefully he will return to the field when the series shifts to St. Louis.

These teams are no stranger to one other, as St. Louis and Detroit have met in the World Series twice, with the Cardinals winning in seven games in 1934 and the Tigers raising the trophy in similar fashion in 1968. St. Louis actually held a 3-1 lead in the '68 series, but Detroit rallied to win the final three games, culminating with a Game 7 victory over the legendary Bob Gibson.

Detroit also swept a three-game interleague set from the Cardinals at Comerica from June 23-25, outscoring the Cardinals 21-13 in the series.

St. Louis has lost its last eight Series road games since winning Game 2 in Kansas City in 1985.

The American League has won the last two Fall Classics with four-game sweeps and have claimed 10 World Series titles over the last 14 years.