Freese an unlikely MVP By BOB ELLIOTT, QMI Agency

ST. LOUIS - Unlikely World Series winner.

Unlikely Series most valuable player.

The St. Louis Cardinals weren’t supposed to make post-season play and when they did were considered the eighth-best team in the field.

MVP David Freese, who drove in 55 runs in 97 games season, knocked in 21 in 18 post-season games. He had been a high school star in Wildwood, Mo. ,grew tired of the game and quit after graduating.

One year out he returned to the game, enrolling at Meramec Community College and transferred to South Alabama. He was drafted in the ninth round in 2006.

“I’ve had plenty of days in my life where I thought I wouldn’t even be close to being a big-leaguer,” Freese said, dealt to St. Louis for Jim Edmonds after the 2007 season.