There’s nothing I particularly like about the Texas Rangers. But I’m going to root for them in the World Series out of principle, because for the second time in 5 years, the Cardinals have no business being there. I’ve said repeatedly in this blog that the baseball playoffs are totally random, and that the best teams rarely win. Nothing proves my point more than the random post season success of the St. Louis Cardinals.
In 2006 the National League Central was terrible. The Cardinals managed to win the division with a record of 83-78. By comparison the Red Sox finished 3rd in the AL East that year, 11 games behind the Yankees. Boston had a record of 86-76. Out of 30 total MLB teams, TWELVE of them had better records than the Cardinals. But when the playoffs started they got hot, and St. Louis won the 2006 World Series.
And now 5 years later they’re back, and still not very good. At 90-72 the Cardinals had the worst regular season record of the 8 playoff teams. With just over a month to go they were 68-63, and trailed the Braves by 10.5 games in the Wild Card race. It took an epic choke by Atlanta just for St. Louis to get in to the playoffs. And somehow they’ve made it back to the World Series. For the integrity of the game, I hope they don’t win it again.
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About Mark Vandeusen