ST. LOUIS -- Near the end of an hour-long discussion about the 2011 World Series championship team on Friday night, former Cardinals infielder Ryan Theriot thought back through the memories he had of that team 10 years ago, from the plane rides with his teammates to the comeback the club made in August to all the postseason games they won.

One moment stands out to him -- and it came before the season started, when the organization gathers annually for Winter Warm-Up. He was sitting with Tony La Russa, and the Hall of Fame manager let Theriot in on a secret.

“He goes, ‘Ryan, I’ll tell you, they got this kid, David Freese. He’s like a tiger. This kid’s unbelievable. I promise you: This kid’s going to have a big moment for us this year,’ Theriot said. “I swear he told me that. This was month before all that stuff happened.”

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You remember the big moment -- well, two big moments -- that Freese had that season: the triple with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie World Series Game 6 and the 11th-inning home run that won the game, sending the Cardinals and Rangers to Game 7, with St. Louis emerging as the champions.

It has been 10 years since that 2011 team put together an epic season comeback and stormed through October, and the Cardinals are making the anniversary a theme throughout the upcoming season.

Cardinals Care, the charitable arm of the organization, kicked off a virtual Winter Warm-Up with a 2011 World Series reunion. A panel of Freese, Theriot, Lance Berkman, Allen Craig, Jason Motte and Kyle McClellan got together via Zoom and talked with moderator Dan McLaughlin about their championship season.

Virtual experiences for fans are scheduled throughout the weekend; find the program at cardinals.com/wwu.

Laughter and inside jokes filled much of the panel discussion, which emphasized the feeling of the clubhouse in 2011. Characters like Berkman starred as the storyteller; Theriot and Gerald Laird as the “court jesters,” as Theriot dubbed himself and Laird; Chris Carpenter as the presence who wouldn’t let anyone quit when the Cardinals were 10 1/2 games back in August; and the many other personalities who filled the clubhouse, including Rafael Furcal. The shortstop used the term “happy flight” after the team won, and it became a mantra.

“You wanted to win so bad not because you wanted to win the game but because you wanted to hear all those guys screaming, ‘happy flight,’ like a bunch of morons,” Theriot joked.

The big moments came up during the panel, including Freese’s triple off Neftali Feliz in Game 6.

“When he hit it, I thought it was a homer,” Berkman, who was on first base, said. “But I figured I better run hard, just in case. They say, ‘Oh, Nelson Cruz should have been playing deeper, and what’s [Texas manager Ron Washington] doing not having him deep enough?’ But that ball was an absolute missile, and if you time it off the bat, it took about two seconds to hit the top of the wall. … Fastball out over, Freeser didn’t miss it.”

Added Freese: “I took that first slider and stayed balanced. It gave me some confidence. When you’re in the middle of an at-bat, you’re checking your focus and you’re like, ‘Whoa, I’m there.’ And there’s nothing else going on except for those one-to-seven pitches you’re going to see. That’s a comfortable feeling. I was just seeing the baseball.

“I remember before the at-bat, thinking about Feliz, telling myself if I’m going to get out, get out because I got out. Don’t let it be any other reason, just keep it simple, get locked in and put together a good at-bat. … Seeing that pitch earlier in the at-bat, whether subconsciously or not, just helps you out. You get ready for it. I whacked that ball, and good thing it went deep enough.”

Motte walked through how he delivered the final out of Game 7 and what he felt on the mound about to close out the World Series.

“For me, honestly, when I came out of the bullpen in Game 7, it was one of the first times that I took everything in,” Motte said. “Game 6 so crazy that I took time after to think, ‘Wow, that’s pretty crazy we’re here.’ And I was warming up in the bullpen, Game 7, it was like normal. Walking down the ramp, kind of looking around, and just honestly thinking, ‘Man, this is pretty cool.’

“I tried to keep things pretty simple. I didn’t have that nasty of stuff, so tried to go out there and keep it simple, worry about one pitch at a time. And that last pitch, Craiger caught it, came running in and I ended up on the bottom of the dogpile. Thought I broke my thumb. Other than that, it was pretty cool.”

Craig, in left field, kept the ball he caught that night and later gave it to La Russa when the manager announced his retirement.

“Being in left field with two outs, and having Motte on the mound, and kind of looking around the stadium and seeing all the Cardinals fans on their feet, chanting, ‘Let’s go Cards,’” Craig said.

“I still get goose bumps to this day when I put myself in that situation. The ball comes my way and just being able to catch it and close out the World Series, share it with a special group of teammates, it’s just amazing. I’m looking forward to seeing everybody. Hopefully, this COVID stuff will make its way out the door and we’ll be able to see everybody.”

The Cardinals are planning a safe reunion with the 2011 team sometime during the upcoming season, and everyone is itching to get the group back together for the first time since the championship parade 10 years ago. It was clear throughout the panel Friday that the ’11 team was unique, and that’s what made winning the World Series so special.

“From the outside looking in, there was an envy that you always had with the St. Louis Cardinals,” Theriot said. “You wonder how they were always so prepared for every game. So coming over, it was just a pleasure to be around Tony and the guys and just see how it played out. There was just a feeling. … It seemed from Day 1 all the way through, you were just expected to win. Everybody had fun. You went to the ballpark not questioning whether you were going to win or not -- you just were wondering who was going to be the hero that day. That ’11 team had a different feel to it.”