Take a brief step back with me to the Dodgers 1941 season. All year long they battled against St. Louis for National League supremacy. The Cardinals, having not played in a Fall Classic since they won the World Series in 1934, had quickly rebuilt their club into an resurgent second coming of the "Gashouse Gang."
The Dodgers, on the other hand, were not the picture of excellence. Being lead by the feisty Leo Durocher, who happened to be a member of the 1934 World Champion Cardinals, the franchise hadn't seen postseason play since 1920. BTW, Durocher had been named the manager of the club just a couple years back, and was aiming to prove that he can lead a moribund franchise like Brooklyn.