October 31, 2006
Cards Win Series, Experts Upset
Cardinal Nation is giddy after our beloved Cards won the world series. I got to hear the final inning called by an eleven year old watching it on a battery powered TV in a muddy field. We were camping at S-F scout ranch and had all gone to our tents for the night.
Boy I don't get it, the Cardinals win the World Series, and a lot of people are more upset than usual that their team didn't win. Let's get one thing straight: TV ratings for the World Series have been dropping for a while - last year's contest was the worst rated up until this years, and with the scorn the national media heaped on the Cardinals, would the average fan tune in?
But were the Cardinals really that bad a team? I don't think so, and the team in October looked far more like the guys who stormed out to a 32-17 record at the start of the season than the guys who stumbled around in September and almost blew winning the division. And why not, they weren't the same guys.
The gradual accretion of outcomes - pitch after pitch, at-bat after at-bat, game after game - yields a deep body of evidence about which teams and players are the best. By the end of the season, we know not only who's more valuable, but by how much.
The problem with that is that when it isn't the same players, and or when it is the same players but they are playing with injuries, the gradual accretion of outcomes doesn't tell you anything.
At least there are some people who aren't St. Louis Fans who think the Cards were underappreciated:
The Cardinals team we saw over the last few weeks is the same one we've seen pretty much every year this decade, when they've been on one of the less-remarked upon runs of greatness I can think of. With the exception of this year and 2003, the Cardinals have won between 93 and 105 games every year this decade. In every year save 2003, they've either won the National League pennant or been beaten by the team that did. Short of the Yankees and Braves, no team has had a more successful run in the wild card era.
Personally, I take this year as compensation for 2004, when the 105 victory Cardinals lost to the wild card Red Sox in four straight and looked nothing like the team that played in the regular season. I just wish Larry Walker was two years younger so he could have been there for the win.
As for those who remain unconvinced, well, too bad. Get over it, the Cardinals won. I don't care what you think because reality says otherwise.
