The St. Louis Cardinals pulled off the comeback of comebacks Friday night they went down 6-0 to the Washington Nationals early and rallied to win 9-7, scoring four runs in the ninth inning to advance to the National League Championship Series.

Comebacks and improbable wins have become the defending World Series champs' story the last two seasons. It's the reason that Dan Moore of Viva El Birdos writes he's prepared for any outcome in the NLCS.

If they lose in the NLCS, I think, so be it. For the second year in a row they were brought up on charges of regular season indifference, of playing the wrong way, of underachieving relative to the pace they'd set before. For the second year in a row they've turned in, by way of a defense, a comeback so ridiculous as to act as a parody of the genre.

I'm old enough to remember when the Cardinals didn't win every single postseason series as though they were reenacting the final 20 minutes of a Mighty Ducks movie. Having gotten one more I'm sated, and ready to so-be-it a loss if it comes to that. Of course, I'm also a little greedy.

The Cardinals move on to their next challenge, where they face a San Francisco Giants team that had their own amazing comeback, winning three straight elimination games against the Cincinnati Reds. The NLCS starts Sunday at 7 p.m. CT from AT&T Park in San Francisco.