Are the St. Louis Cardinals A Lost Cause?

I get it. 105.3 FM ESPN Evansville broadcast the Cubs last year, and the fans in blue are, well, blue. I’ve heard the same song and dance my entire life: Maybe next year. Well, this is the year, right?! The Cards are sucking wind and the Cubs will go on and win it all this season. Cards fans should just crawl into a hole and wait until next season. Cards were smoked yesterday by last year’s Redbirds Jason Heyward and John Lackey. So Cards fans shouldn’t be able to respond when Cubs fans talk smack.

No, no, and no. Although the media has a love fest with the Cubs this season (as they do for everyone except the Redbirds), these aren’t quite true. The Cards are playing a good game right now, with a 62-56 or .525 record (2^nd in NL Central and giving a fighting chance for the 2^nd Wild Card spot). Yes, the Cubs have had a phenomenal record this season, at 73-43 or .629 record so far – their best since 1945 (yet the Cards ended the 2004 season with a .648 record). No, Lackey and Heyward couldn’t contain the Cards and they lost to some incredible power. And no, Cards fans should always be ready to remind the Cubs fans of history, fate, a goat, and the power of Cardinal Nation.

Let’s start with the fans. Your St. Louis Cardinals boast the best fans in the game. By fan counts alone, the Cards handily win this contest. Busch Stadium III has brought in 2,619,555 fans so far this season (2^nd in NL) to Wrigley’s 2,385,843 (4^th in NL). The last time the Cubs surpassed Cardinal fan attendance was in 2003, and that was by about 52,000 fans. And we know the Cards are the best fans in sports. Bleacher Report, Wall Street Journal, and Bud Selig (see below) agree.

Yes, the Cubs have a great record this season. Their 2015 record was 162-97 (.599), and they are currently tied with their total wins for the 2014 record (73-89, .451). Their last winning season prior to last year was in 2009 (83-78, .516). The last losing season for the Cardinals was in 2007 (78-84, .481). The Cubs last won the pennant in 2008 (97-64, .602), but lost in a sweep in the LDS, just as they did in the NLDS last year.

As you can see, there isn’t even a comparison of the team records. Cubs fans have heart, but heart alone doesn’t create a winning team. When Cubs fans talk smack to me, I try first to brush them off, because you can’t argue without the facts. And the fact is that the Cubs have created a legacy of not winning (there’s my positive spin), and once or twice a decade we just have to deal with the onslaught of pride that wells up within their hapless fans.

So the question is, who are we as Cardinal Nation? We love a game that is relatively unchanged since the beginning. Yes, they’ve added radio, television, internet streaming, and instant replay, but the general game is the same. And we love it. We are devoted to baseball, and we love our team whether they win or lose (though we prefer they win). We talk smack by pulling out last year’s cool weather gear to support our team while they continue playing through October. We speak by remembering the greats of baseball past who are still involved in training present Redbirds.

You see, Cardinals fans don’t live in the moment of one great season over another. We live with the perspective of this season over the 100+ year legacy of a winning team. The Cardinals have 11 World Championships, 19 Pennants, and 28 Playoff Appearances to the Cubs’ 2 World Championships, 10 Pennants, and 17 Playoff Appearances.

And we speak by listening to 105.3 FM ESPN Evansville. Go Cards!

Upcoming Games

Game times and pitchers are subject to change. Go to stlcardinals.com for the most up-to-date schedule and information.

NL Central Standings

105.3 WJLT ESPN Evansville only airs games via radio broadcast. Online listening can be found at mlb.com. 

Thanks to baseball-reference.com for the stats!