And the hated Cardinals lurk . . .

[dougdescenzo]

The Cards and the D-Backs are the two luckiest teams in baseball this year. There's no doubt in my mind we'll catch and pass the Brewers but in case we don't I think the Wild Card is solidly ours.

[Sosa21MVP]

I don't see the Cardinals going anywhere, they just beat the Brewers 3 out of 4 just as Cincinnati did but do you see anyone saying BEWARE THE REDS?

 

If the Cubs end up in a position of seriously having to worry about being passed by St Louis it will be because the Cubs started playing crap baseball, not because the Cards starting playing .750 ball the remainder of the year.

[TruffleShuffle]

I don't see the Cardinals going anywhere, they just beat the Brewers 3 out of 4 just as Cincinnati did but do you see anyone saying BEWARE THE REDS?

 

No because (a) they are 6 games behind the cardinals, and (b) their organization doesn't have a horseshoe up its butt

[indifferent]

(b) their organization doesn't have a horseshoe up its butt

 

Just because they have a good history, doesn't mean they are making good moves. Case in point, Kip Wells, Adam Kennedy (and that's all their moves to speak of in the off season), Mike Maroth. Not selling now is a disaster IMO (and I'm talking Izzy and Juan high, not Reyes low). Most Cards fans are very realistic about their chances and they don't want the rebuilding to take any longer than necessary. You have to give some leeway about the state of our team to Cards fans for being confused after last year though.

[Sosa21MVP]

I don't see the Cardinals going anywhere, they just beat the Brewers 3 out of 4 just as Cincinnati did but do you see anyone saying BEWARE THE REDS?

 

No because (a) they are 6 games behind the cardinals, and (b) their organization doesn't have a horseshoe up its butt

 

Yes the Cardinals are so historically lucky it took them 24 years between titles and blowing a 3-1 lead in the 1985 World Series, 3-2 lead in the 1987 World Series, 3-1 lead in the 1995 NLCS among other playoff failures.

[TruffleShuffle]

I don't see the Cardinals going anywhere, they just beat the Brewers 3 out of 4 just as Cincinnati did but do you see anyone saying BEWARE THE REDS?

 

No because (a) they are 6 games behind the cardinals, and (b) their organization doesn't have a horseshoe up its butt

 

Yes the Cardinals are so historically lucky it took them 24 years between titles and blowing a 3-1 lead in the 1985 World Series, 3-2 lead in the 1987 World Series, 3-1 lead in the 1995 NLCS among other playoff failures.

 

they've made it to the playoffs quite a few more times than the cubs.

[DiamondMind]

they've made it to the playoffs quite a few more times than the cubs.

 

 

Actually, only 5 more pennants total and a 517 winning % to the cubs 514%. Oh, and your sig pic is obnoxiously large.

[Sosa21MVP]

I don't see the Cardinals going anywhere, they just beat the Brewers 3 out of 4 just as Cincinnati did but do you see anyone saying BEWARE THE REDS?

 

No because (a) they are 6 games behind the cardinals, and (b) their organization doesn't have a horseshoe up its butt

 

Yes the Cardinals are so historically lucky it took them 24 years between titles and blowing a 3-1 lead in the 1985 World Series, 3-2 lead in the 1987 World Series, 3-1 lead in the 1995 NLCS among other playoff failures.

 

they've made it to the playoffs quite a few more times than the cubs.

 

They make it there more often and lose in Cub-like fashion fairly often so again I don't see where the Cards are the miracle lucky franchise with the lucky horseshow wedged in the nether regions. :lol:

[TruffleShuffle]

they've made it to the playoffs quite a few more times than the cubs.

 

 

Actually, only 5 more pennants total and a 517 winning % to the cubs 514%. Oh, and your sig pic is obnoxiously large.

 

it's smaller than my last one, and if you don't like it then block all images from photobucket

[Chief_Cardinal]

Agreed that the lack of current starting pitching will be the Cards downfall, but they are by no means out of it. Are the Cards as talented as the Cubs or Brewers this year.....prolly not! But they do prolly have more experience in playing in pressure packed games.

 

I don't think this week changed the Cards view as far as being sellers or buyers this year. The team stressed going into this week that they believed they still had a shot to win this year...so this weeks Brewers series did little to influence that decision.

 

I do however think if the team makes it through August....they have a favorable schedule in September...Its set up perfectly for a run. CIN(2); PIT (4); Az (3); Cin (3); CHI (4); PHI (3); HOU (4); Mil (3); and Pit (3)

 

That being said....The Cubs win the division by 5+ games :( ......just don't discard the cards yet! :)

 

 

P.S. .....The Cards were home watching the playoffs in 95 along with the Cubs....it was 96 that they blew the 3-1 against ATL.....and have 7 more pennets than the Cubs, not 5 more!

[Andy]

I'm not worried about St. Louis, for many reasons already stated.

[soccer10k]

. . .only six-games out of first. In the euphoria of the Cubs run, everybody has seemingly dismissed the Cardinals. No chance you say, weak starting pitching, the Cubs just took two out of three on this trip from them while their ace Chris Carpenter is done for the year after Tommy John surgury.

 

Many similar aguments were made about them last year, and we know what happened. While the Cubs and Brewers flip-flop the Phillies and Mets this week, St. Louis goes to Pittsburgh and Washington, essentially playing two last place teams. I just checked the schedule, St. Louis has six left against the Brewers and seven against the Cubs left. Like it or not, they are not buried and will have a huge say about who wins this division.

 

It will be interesting seven days from now to see what the Central looks like. Let's see how the Cubs fare during these next seven games.

 

Like you said earlier in your post, they had an ace in Carpenter last year. They don't have him this year.

[BigSlick]

. . .only six-games out of first. In the euphoria of the Cubs run, everybody has seemingly dismissed the Cardinals. No chance you say, weak starting pitching, the Cubs just took two out of three on this trip from them while their ace Chris Carpenter is done for the year after Tommy John surgury.

 

Many similar aguments were made about them last year, and we know what happened. While the Cubs and Brewers flip-flop the Phillies and Mets this week, St. Louis goes to Pittsburgh and Washington, essentially playing two last place teams. I just checked the schedule, St. Louis has six left against the Brewers and seven against the Cubs left. Like it or not, they are not buried and will have a huge say about who wins this division.

 

It will be interesting seven days from now to see what the Central looks like. Let's see how the Cubs fare during these next seven games.

 

I'm still dismissing the Cardinals.

[Have a seat, Neifi]

Let's play a game of "Choose the Baseball Tonight cliche" as to why ESPN's "experts" will in fact argue the Cards are still in it-

 

(a) they're "gamers"

(b) they know what it takes to win

© they're playing "within themselves" (wtf does this mean, anyway)

(d) they've been here before and are savvy veterans

[Outshined_One]

Let's play a game of "Choose the Baseball Tonight cliche" as to why ESPN's "experts" will in fact argue the Cards are still in it-

 

(a) they're "gamers"

(b) they know what it takes to win

© they're playing "within themselves" (wtf does this mean, anyway)

(d) they've been here before and are savvy veterans

 

I'll take (e) all of the above.

[Soul]

Logic and reason doesn't apply to the Cardinals. I'll never dismiss them, no matter what.

[JGalt73]

Largely because these are rooted in adjusted RS/RA, the BP predictions have the Cardinals sitting with a 2.2% chance of taking the division. FWIW the Cubs have now eclipsed the 50% mark for winning the division.

[samhainn77]

The Thing that bothers me most is we still have quite a few games left with them. Their good luck, remaining games against us, and haunting visions of 2004 have me sitting uneasy. That being said, the Cubs have proven me wrong several times this year.

[inari]

The Thing that bothers me most is we still have quite a few games left with them. Their good luck, remaining games against us, and haunting visions of 2004 have me sitting uneasy. That being said, the Cubs have proven me wrong several times this year.

 

That, on the other hand, does worry me. The Cubs have made a habbit of finding a team that is inferior to them and getting creamed by them throughout the year. Granted, they've done well against the Cardinals so far, but the idea of the Cardinals (or Pirates, or Reds) taking critical series from us is not far fetched at all. I have to see it to believe it, and no Cub team in recent memory has consistently beat the teams they were supposed to beat. This one has been doing a good job lately, but we also have been swept by the Marlins this year (which I think could come back to kill us).

[Banedon]

I didn't read the whole thread, but to me the Cardinals need to gain groudn on us, not the Brewers. The Brewers are sliding and I think the Cubs are the real team to chase here, and even when the Cards have been winning, they haven't gained ground on the Cubs.

[Chief_Cardinal]

I didn't read the whole thread, but to me the Cardinals need to gain groudn on us, not the Brewers. The Brewers are sliding and I think the Cubs are the real team to chase here, and even when the Cards have been winning, they haven't gained ground on the Cubs.

 

Agree 100%

[Soul]

I didn't read the whole thread, but to me the Cardinals need to gain groudn on us, not the Brewers. The Brewers are sliding and I think the Cubs are the real team to chase here, and even when the Cards have been winning, they haven't gained ground on the Cubs.

 

Agree 100%

 

True. I just never dismiss the Cards, no matter what.

 

And I strongly feel nobody else should, either. Ever.

 

Well, OK -- last week of the season and we're 7 up on the Cards, then I'll dismiss them.

[Keener98]

15-1 Pirates enough said. Their pitching is nowhere close to being good enough to get back into the race. They are done

[sweetpeteman]

I didn't read the whole thread, but to me the Cardinals need to gain groudn on us, not the Brewers. The Brewers are sliding and I think the Cubs are the real team to chase here, and even when the Cards have been winning, they haven't gained ground on the Cubs.

 

Agree 100%

 

True. I just never dismiss the Cards, no matter what.

 

And I strongly feel nobody else should, either. Ever.

 

Well, OK -- last week of the season and we're 7 up on the Cards, then I'll dismiss them.

 

Yep, only time I'll dismiss them is when that little number near their name in the standings changes from 1 to E.

[nolanwood]

The runs scored and runs scored against stats play heavily against the Cards going anywhere this year. I predict at the end of the year the Cardinals will have a record closer to the Pirates than the Brewers or Cubs.