It's easy to gauge intelligence. Sort of.
Take an issue that doesn't have a finite answer or easy solution, like abortion or the death penalty or Juan Encarnation's eye ball and ask someone their opinion. Their intelligence is inversely proportional to the amount of conviction they profligate their stances. 
For instance, a reply like "No human life should be taken under any circumstances and God has told us through the Bible that you'll be in hell forever and ever if you even think about abortion." is a pretty solid sign that this acquaintance is bat shit crazy and incapable of rational and/or logical thought.
What if a woman is raped by a mature flatland dwelling silver back gorilla during a trip to the zoo? "No abortion." What if prego mom openly admits she wants to eat her baby in a fetus soufflé with mini carrots and field greens after it's born? "NO ABORTION!" So entrenched in their dogma (from church, parents, social groups, etc al) these 'absolutes' refuse to look at the other side of the argument. Worse, the other side of the argument is blasphemy and cause for eternal damnation.
My most guttural instinct for the 2008 season tells me the Cardinals aren't going to make the playoffs. In fact, discounting my parole officer and mother, the query I receive most during the past month or so has been pretty much standard "Are the Cards going to the playoffs or not?" I hope people ask me this because they think I have the ability to predict the future; sadly it's most likely because I get paid to write about the Cardinals. And depending on my mood I feel like the Cardinals have between a 0-5% chance of playing extra curricular baseball this October.
This may not be news to readers of this site... but the Cardinals have their share of 'absolutists'. These guys could walk in onTLR giving their wife a Cincinnati Bow Tie and find the silver lining in the situation. "At least his balls were shaven". To be honest, this is fine. I appreciate their fervor; if not for them the rest of us wouldn't seem so intelligent. But even through the bouquets and kisses- this redbird subset has a point. The Cardinals might just fucking make the playoffs.
With 70+ wins- the Cardinals fully met all the expectations of them I had on April 1st. I honestly believed that this was a 75 win team at best. Barring a major collapse, this team will win over 81 games and be a plus .500 team. Seeing as only a handful of other squads have 70 wins currently I think it's also fair to say that this is one of the best 8 teams inMLB.
Ugh. The bottom lines is I don't think any of us know what's going to happen. Maybe we win the World Series in dramatic fashion maybe we lose the wild card race by 10 games. Literally nothing is off the table these next five weeks. Which is equal parts frustrating and exciting.
That being said we can certainly look at the things we know and don't know...
THINGS WE KNOW:
Ryan Ludwick is not a joke. Personally, I thought he was, but he's been streaky and successful for the entire year. Pitchers will not figure him out theremaning 40 games and he's going to get 40 HR and 110 RBI's.
Albert Pujols is hurt and still is the best player in baseball.
Rick Ankiel could have your girlfriend bent over the bar within one drink and you can't do a damn thing about that.
As a fan base we are in no way, shape or form ready for a world where the Cubs are the World Series Champions. Seriously. This would be the worst thing ever. Worse than polio.
THINGS WE DON'T KNOW:
Will the Cubs be the Cubs in September?
Is Carp done for 2008, will Wainwright make a difference? If Dr. Paletta told you were about to die, would you change a thing you were doing?
Can Perez really be the closer? 3 weeks ago this guy was in AAA and by all accounts 'extremely lost on the mound'.
Do we love the new Lopez; do we not love the new Lopez? Time will tell.
Just how many of your wives/girlfriends has Rick Ankiel put his thingy into?
Of course, this is just a cursory list and many more questions will need to answered before TBS gets admittedly un-funny and replaces Ray Ramano with Matt Garza in prime time.
Will the Cardinals make the playoffs?
No way.
Probably.