When you arrived at Fenway Park on Wednesday night, you got an immediate feeling of inevitability. Michael Wacha, on the mound for the St. Louis Cardinals, had been nearly unhittable in the postseason, but with a chance to clinch their third World Series title since 2004, the Boston Red Sox weren't going to let it get to a seventh game.

By the third inning, the party had begun in Boston.

Wacha, who had been 4-0 with a 1.00 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 27 innings, was tagged for six runs (twice as many as he had previously allowed in the entire playoffs) in less than four innings as he failed to extent the Cardinals' season.

"I think a couple of things, one, you have a more educated team that's faced him before, and you got a kid that's been out there and so impressive to keep doing what he's been doing," Mike Matheny said when asked to explain Wacha's ineffectiveness.

"The game is going to catch up with everybody. Today was one of those days where he got a little more plate on a few pitches, but this kid has been absolutely fantastic. I just told him a few minutes ago, we're not here if he doesn't do what he's done for us over this postseason.

The trouble started with two outs in the bottom of the third inning when Wacha hit Jonny Gomes, loading the bases. Up came Shane Victorino, who hadn't recorded a hit since his pennant-clinching grand slam against the Detroit Tigers nearly two weeks ago.

Victorino, bothered by a bad back, wasn't even in the lineup for the last two games of the series, but that didn't seem to matter. He put the Red Sox on the board with a three-run double off the Green Monster, providing all the runs John Lackey and the pitching staff would need.

Already forever a postseason hero in Boston, Victorino came to the plate with the bases loaded again in the fourth inning. He further padded the lead with an RBI single.

The Cardinals finally decided to formally pitch around David Ortiz, the World Series MVP, and it turned out to be too late. Ortiz walked four times, intentionally three times, and struck out in his only at-bat of the game. Even without a hit in the final game of the series, Ortiz had an absurd .688/.760/1.188 line. Prior to Game 6, he accounted for a third of Boston's hits in the Fall Classic.

"I know I'm one of the forces for this ball club, and I like to take things personal, you know. And that has been my whole career, a challenge," Ortiz said. "I wasn't trying to be the guy, but I know I got to get something done to keep the line moving. Thank God, everything worked out well, and I didn't even have to do anything today. The rest of the team took over."

Pitching around Ortiz might have helped St. Louis in Games 2-5, but the Boston offense came to life with blood in the water. The change in strategy backfired for Mike Matheny and St. Louis.

"Let me tell you, those guys – I was hitting well, but it wasn't like I was hitting pitches right down the middle of the plate," Ortiz explained. "They were trying their best to get me out. I was just putting good swings, I was getting away with some swings."

Victorino, Jacoby Ellsbury and Stephen Drew each had two hits, including an improbable solo home run off the bat of Drew in the fourth. Drew entered the game with a single hit against the Cardinals, but timely hitting was the name of the game for John Farrell's club all postseason.

"Shane Victorino has got a little bit of a flair for the dramatic. The hits that he did record in the postseason couldn't have been bigger and couldn't have come at a more opportune time," Farrell said.

"Even though the numbers for [Victorino and Drew] in the postseason don't reflect what they did during the year, we faced very good pitching. From every team we faced, and it was almost a little poetic justice tonight given the struggles of Drew offensively. We could see his timing start to come around over in St. Louis, and for him to hit one out of the ballpark, a big night for him."

Lackey became the first pitcher ever to start and win the clinching game of a World Series with two different teams (Los Angeles Angels, 2007). Completely unreliable in 2011 and out for all of 2012 following Tommy John surgery, Lackey allowed one run and struck out five while scattering nine hits in six-plus innings.

"His turnaround mirrors that of this organization," Farrell said of the right-hander. "He's had such a good year for us, very consistent. The way he shaped his body goes right into how well he pitched."

Junichi Tazawa, Brandon Workman and Koji Uehara didn't allow a hit as they recorded the final seven outs.

The triumph marked the eighth World Series title for the Red Sox (1903, 1912, 1916, 1916, 1918, 2004, 2007 and 2013). Only three organizations -- the New York Yankees (27), St. Louis Cardinals (11) and Oakland Athletics (9) have won more.

This championship was easily the most improbable, even more so than the incredible 2004 comeback, because they won just 69 games and occupied last place just a season ago.

"Winning this World Series is special," Ortiz, winner of three rings, reflected. "I think it might be the most special out of the World Series that I have been part of, to be honest with you."