I saw a Facebook post yesterday that had a picture of Eli Manning paying homage to the well-known Dos Equis ad for The Most Interesting Man in the World.

As the commercial's star says “I don't always drink beer, but when I do I prefer Dos Equis,” this photo said “I don't always get to the Super Bowl, but when I do, I beat the Patriots.”

Clever, indeed. And fitting, both for the New York Giants and their new baseball counterparts, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Last year's baseball darlings won a second championship in six years despite a less-than-stellar regular season, just as the Giants did this year in becoming the first 9-7 team to win the Super Bowl. For Big Blue, it was their second Super Bowl victory in five years.

David Freese is to Eli Manning what cheesecake is to dessert. Both proved their mettle in the clutch to cap improbable postseason runs. Though Freese was a newbie on the championship stage, his game-saving heroics almost equal that of Manning's two Super Bowl MVP awards.

When the Cardinals won their first World Series in 2006, they too set the bar as low as any team ever had in the regular season. An 83-78 record was good enough to win the NL Central, but bad enough to be the worst record by a World Series champion in modern history. Just like the 9-7 Giants.

But as if these teams' first 2000's title run weren't incredible enough, they saved the best for round two. The 2011 Cardinals more closely represented the 2007 Giants, just as the 06 Cards were more comparable to this year's G-Men.

St. Louis trailed by 10.5 games in the Wild Card race in late August, and spent the rest of the regular season playing virtual elimination games. They reached the playoffs on the season's last day, and never looked back.

The Giants were 7-7 but by good fortune of being in the tepid NFC East, were still alive on the season's final day. A win over division rival Dallas set them on their merry way.

Chris Carpenter proved he has ice water in his veins with his gutsy, three-hit shutout to give the Cardinals a 1-0 win in Game 5 of the NLDS against baseball's best team, the Philadelphia Phillies. The Giants showed their grit by withstanding the ferocious 49ers defense in the NFC Championship Game to win in overtime.

The World Series and Super Bowl this year were equally dramatic. Granted, Game 7 was a bit of a dud after perhaps the greatest game of all time in Game 6, but the World Series' first seven-game set since 2002 was well worth the price of admission.

Though Super Bowl XLVI didn't feature the circus-like offense that we've grown accustomed to this year, the season literally was in the air until the final Hail Mary fell incomplete, as the Giants capped yet another comeback win on football's biggest stage over the Patriots.

One has to wonder who will be living more of the high life these days, Freese or Manning? Granted, Eli was already a household name having won a previous Super Bowl, and being a star quarterback in New York isn't too shabby. But Freese's seeming emergence out of nowhere is always a compelling story, not to mention doing so in your hometown in front of baseball's best fans.

Resilient franchises, the Cards and Giants both celebrated their second title of the decade following a humbling trip to the finals in their previous appearances. The Giants were throttled by the Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV, 34-7, while the Cardinals were swept by the Red Sox in the 2004 Series. But with 11 World Series titles and four Super Bowl championships, St. Louis and New York still rank among their sports' elite franchises.

The Cardinals and Giants certainly don't always get to the big stage, but when they do, magic happens.