|
If you are a baseball fan of college age or younger, chances are you don't recall the St. Louis Cardinals ever being also-rans. Since the calendar flipped to 2000, the Cards have been in the playoffs 12 of 16 seasons, winning two World Series, losing two others, and incurring 5 National League Championship Series defeats. Star players, managers and key front-office executives have changed, but the results have largely stayed the same. The entire Albert Pujols era is encompassed by this time frame; they won it all in his last season in St. Louis, but were good enough to return to the Fall Classic the second season after his departure. Tony La Russa came and went, the GM chair was handed from Walt Jocketty to John Mozeliak, and Jeff Luhnow arrived on the scene to handle the Cards' amateur talent procurement and development operation before leaving to run the show in Houston. None of these comings and goings changed the bottom line; the road to the National League pennant has run through St. Louis for quite a while now. That may change soon. The Cardinals have reached a crossroads of sorts. The Pirates have been nipping at their heels for a few years now, but now the Cubs are banging loudly on the door with their young talent and deep pockets, which allowed them to wrest away the Cards' best player, Jason Heyward. The Cards have weathered this storm before, but what might make it different this time around? The Cardinals' recent history First, a bit of a history lesson about some of the prevailing themes regarding the Cards' ongoing excellence seems to be in order.
|
