Fresh off their two-game sweep of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League playoff, the Cardinals faced the Boston Red Sox, who had won their first American League pennant since 1918.

• Joe Cronin's Red Sox won 104 games to leave the defending American League champion Detroit Tigers 12 games behind in second place.
• Boston led the league in runs with 792 as three hitters had over 100 RBIs to rank second, third, and fourth in the league: LF Ted Williams 123, 1B Rudy York 119, and 2B Bobby Doerr.
• The Bosox finished fourth in the league in ERA (3.38). Their top pitcher was Tex Hughson (20-11, 2.75), followed by Joe Dobson (13-7, 3.24) and Dave "Boo" Ferriss (25-6, 3.25).

Game One: Sportsman's Park
Attendance: 36,218 Time of Game: 2:39
Red Sox 3 Cardinals 2
WP: Earl Johnson; LP: Howie Pollet

• The Red Sox scored first when 3B Pinky Higgins singled in 1B Rudy York, who had been hit by a pitch and moved to second on Bobby Doerr's walk.
• The Cards finally got to Tex Hughson in the sixth to tie the score. With one out, 2B Red Schoendienst walked. He moved to second on a groundout, then scored on 1B Stan Musial's double. The Cards loaded the bases, but C Joe Garagiola struck out.
• Garagiola made up for that failure by hitting a two-out double in the eighth to score 3B Whitey Kurowski with the go-ahead run.
• But in that era when a pitcher was expected to finish what he started, the Red Sox tied the score in the ninth. Higgins started the rally with a one-out single. Then PH Rip Russell also singled, sending PR Don Gutteridge to third. Pollet gave Cards fans hope that he could preserve the lead when he struck out PH Roy Partee. But RF Tom McBride singled to tie the score.
• Still strong, Boston starter Earl Johnson set the Cards down in order in the ninth.
• Pollet easily retired CF Dom DiMaggio and LF Ted Williams in the top of the tenth. But York clouted a homer to deep left field.
• The Cards got a runner to second base in the bottom of the tenth when Schoendienst reached base on an error and took second on CF Terry Moore's sacrifice. But Johnson bore down and got Musial to ground out and RF Enos Slaughter to fly out to seal the victory.

Game Two: Sportsman's Park
Attendance: 35,815 Time of Game: 1:56
Cardinals 3 Red Sox 0
WP: Harry Brecheen; LP: Mickey Harris

• The Cardinals were in process of holding Williams to five-for-25 in the Series by using the "Williams Shift" that Cleveland player-manager Lou Boudreau invented during the season. Williams was also playing with an injured right elbow.
• Southpaw Harry Brecheen shut out the hard-hitting Red Sox on only four hits.
• Meanwhile, the Cards got a run in the third when Brecheen helped his own cause by singling in C Del Rice, who had doubled off southpaw Mickey Harris.
• The home team tripled their lead in the fifth with two unearned runs. Rice again started the rally by singling. Brecheen sacrificed but reached first on 3B Pinky Higgins' bad throw to second to move the runners to second and third. They stayed put when Schoendienst bounced out. But Moore got an infield hit to score Rice and send Brecheen to third. Musial's grounder sent Rice across.
• Neither side threatened the rest of the way.

Game Three: Fenway Park
Attendance: 34,500 Time of Game: 1:54
Red Sox 4 Cardinals 0
WP: Dave Ferriss; LP: Murry Dickson

• 6'2" 210lb right-hander "Boo" Ferriss didn't allow more than one baserunner in any inning as he pitched a six-hit shutout.
• The Red Sox seized control in the bottom of the first when York clouted his second homer of the Series, a three-run shot over the Green Monster in left field.
• Murry Dickson settled down and shut out the Red Sox until he was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the top of the eighth. Boston added an unearned run off Ted Wilks in the bottom of the eighth when Schoendienst's two-out error allowed York to score.

Game Four: Fenway Park
Attendance: 35,645
Time of Game: 2:31
Cardinals 12 Red Sox 3
WP: Red Munger; LP: Tex Hughson

• The Cards jumped on Hughson for three runs in the second and drove him to the showers with three more in the third.
• Slaughter started the second inning with a home run to deep right field. 3B Whitey Kurowski doubled and scored on LF Harry Walker's single. With SS Marty Marion at the plate, Walker stole second and continued to third when SS Johnny Pesky muffed the throw. Marion then squeezed home Walker.
• Another Red Sox error contributed to the Cards's three-run third. After Schoendienst singled, Moore reached first when Hughson fielded his bunt and threw wildly to first to put runners on second and third. Musial doubled both home with a double. Hughson got the next two batters, but Garagiola's single scored Musial with another unearned run
• The Red Sox nicked Munger for a run in the fourth when Williams singled and York doubled him home.
• The Cards got that run right back on back-to-back doubles by Slaughter and Kurowski.
• Another St. Louis run came home in the seventh off reliever Bill Zuber on singles by Slaughter and Kurowski and Garagiola's double.
• Bobby Doerr cracked a solo homer in the eighth.
• The Cards made it a rout with four runs in the ninth off Mace Brown and Mike Ryba. Slaughter, Kurowski, and Garagiola singled for the first run. In came Ryba, who retired Walker, but Marion doubled in two and, after Munger grounded out, scored when Ryba dropped the throw from York while covering first.

Game Five: Fenway Park
Attendance: 35,982
Time of Game: 2:23
Red Sox 6 Cardinals 3
WP: Joe Dobson; LP: Al Brazle

• The Red Sox took a giant stride toward winning the Series by taking the crucial fifth game to put the Cards' backs against the wall.
• Boston started fast against southpaw Alpha Brazle in the bottom of the first, scoring a run on singles by Gutteridge, Pesky, and Williams.
• The visitors answered with an unearned run in the second on Pesky's error and Walker's double.
• But the Sox retook the lead–this time for good–in the bottom of the second. Partee singled and went to second on Dobson's bunt and advanced to third on Kurowski's throwing error. Gutteridge plated the run with a single.
• Neither team scored until Leon Culberton led off the bottom of the sixth with a homer off Brazle.
• Boston added three insurance runs in the seventh on doubles by DiMaggio and Higgins around an intentional walk to York and a throwing error by Marion.

Game Six: Sportsman's Park
Attendance: 35,768
Time of Game: 1:56
Cardinals 4 Red Sox 1
WP: Harry Brecheen; LP: Mickey Harris

• Needing a win to stay alive, Cards Manager Eddie Dyer called on Brecheen and he came through, allowing only one run on seven scattered hits.
• He got all the runs he needed when the Cards smacked five hits off Harris in the bottom of the third: Rice singled but was forced at second on Brecheen's attempted sacrifice. Schoendienst doubled Brecheen to third, from where he scored on Moore's flyout. Musial's infield single sent his friend Red to third. He scored on Kurowski's single. Then Stan the Man came home on Slaughter's single. Hughson replaced Harris and pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings to keep the score at 3-0.
• York continued to be a thorn in the Cards' side when he tripled to start the top of the seventh and scored on Doerr's flyout.
• St. Louis got that run back in the bottom of the eighth off Earl Johnson on a walk to Slaughter and Marion's double to right field.
• Brecheen set down the heart of the Red Sox order, DiMaggio, Williams, and York, in the top of the ninth to force a seventh game.

If the Red Sox thought they were finished with Brecheen, they were sadly mistaken.

Read the separate article on the seventh game of the 1946 World Series, one of the most exciting and controversial seventh games of all time.