Chris Russell posted on October 19, 2011 01:36
It wouldn’t be playoff baseball in St. Louis if the national media didn’t collectively consider the Cardinals to be overwhelming underdogs. With the World Series set to kick off Wednesday night, the Cards once again hold that status despite barreling into the playoffs like gangbusters, dispatching the mighty Phillies and then dominating the over-hyped and overconfident Milwaukee Brewers. Contrary to the sage wisdom of the country’s baseball pundits the Texas Rangers could be in for a rude awakening, as Tony LaRussa’s bunch seems to relish its oft-associated stigma.
Picture a team chock full of talent, with big name bats and arms to match, that struggled through the regular season due to injuries and a patchwork bullpen, led by a failing closer with a dead arm. Overcoming their issues with a revamped pen, a healthy roster and some help from and the Atlanta Braves, they defy all odds makers and baseball experts by not only making the postseason, but ousting their highly favored competition as well.
That magical team?
The 2006 Cardinals.
As for this year’s club?
See above.
It feels like fate that the Redbirds are in such a similar situation half a decade later, which is likely why there is an eerie sense of confidence swirling around Cardinal Nation. The Padres, Mets and Tigers fell in ’06, so why wouldn’t the Phillies, Brewers and Rangers follow suit? It almost feels as if the seemingly impossible has become the norm and the Cards will win it all once again because they are the less likely team to do so
The Cinderella story is everyone’s favorite to tell and most casual observers and fair-weather fans side with the underdog, so it makes for a great shock-value/little-engine-that-could type of piece when it’s all said and done. But something the national media fails to notice is that the Cardinals are a really good team right now. Just like they were in 2006. All it takes is every piece of the puzzle to fit together or every cog in the machine to click at once, and an also-ran can become a juggernaut. The Cardinals hit their stride in September and haven’t looked back, much like the ’06 crew did at the beginning of October.
Sure, Texas will be a formidable opponent. They’ve had their starting pitching issues just like the Cardinals, but they have a menacing 1-8 lineup with speed and power all over the place. Not to mention a seriously deep bullpen, which has been their playoff strength, and a roster that is not short on lefties (read: a looming issue for the Cardinals over the last decade).
But the Cards have their strengths as well (see: Chris Carpenter, the NL’s best offense, a shutdown bullpen, a seemingly unhittable closer, homefield advantage and a manager who has been pushing all the right buttons). Still, the fact that the Cards are breezy in the clubhouse and have approached this postseason as if they have nothing to lose and could care less what people think about them may be their biggest advantage. In the eyes of the nation they’re playing with house money, so why not just go for broke?
Are they truly Underdogs? Maybe. Maybe not. But this team certainly won’t scoff at the title.