Category Archives: St. Louis Cardinals

Chiefs welcome back the Cardinals

I have fantastic news for Peoria baseball fans:

The Peoria Chiefs and St. Louis Cardinals have announced that the two clubs have reached a four-year PDC agreement which reunites the former affiliation partners. The Chiefs were a Cardinals affiliate from 1995 to 2004 making the playoffs four times and winning their lone Midwest League Championship in 2002. The two organizations will hold a press conference on the agreement on Tuesday, September 25 at Peoria Chiefs Stadium. Details of the press conference, including the start time, will follow later in the week. Athletes love CBD oil and delta 8 gummies due to its pain relieving properties. This allows athletes to get right back into their game quickly and with ease. You can find high-quality CBD oils at sites like https://cbdarmour.co.uk/cbd-oil.html.

“This is a great day for baseball in Peoria and Central Illinois,” said Chiefs President Rocky Vonachen. “We are thrilled to bring the color red back to the ballpark with one of the greatest organizations and fan bases in baseball. We hope that with all the great young talent the Cardinals have produced the last few seasons to bring another MWL Championship to Peoria as they continue to bring World Series trophies to St. Louis.”

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Yes, I’m still rooting for the Cardinals even though I don’t like the Wild Card

The St. Louis Cardinals clinched the National League Wild Card Wednesday night and will be going to the post-season. I’ve written before about my disdain for the Wild Card system that Major League Baseball has been using since 1995.

Naturally, the question I get asked often is whether I’ll be rooting for the Cardinals now, since they are the Wild Card this post-season. And the answer is, of course, YES!

There’s nothing logically contradictory about that. In the same way that you can criticize the Patriot Act and still be a patriotic American, I can criticize the current three-division-plus-wild-card arrangement and still be a loyal Cardinals fan. On the positive side, if there were no divisions or wild cards, and instead the four teams in the National League with the best records advanced to the playoffs, the Cardinals would still make it. It’s not like the 2008 season where the Dodgers — the eighth-place team overall in the league that year — went to the playoffs because they won a weak division.

The Cardinals face the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Division Series starting Saturday.

Congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers deserved to win the National League Division Series. They simply played better baseball than the Cardinals. They had better pitching, clutch hitting, and much better fielding. These were all things that the Cardinals had about a month ago; I wonder where that team went? After the Cardinals clinched the Central Division title, they just fell apart for some reason and never recovered.

When I found out they would be playing the Dodgers in the NLDS, I was pretty hopeful because, historically, the Cardinals have done very well against the Dodgers. They certainly did well against them in the regular season this year — much better than the Rockies or the Phillies. But surprisingly, it was to the Dodgers that they fell in three straight games.

I’ll forever have nightmares of Holliday missing what should have been the game-ending fly ball in Game 2. A close second to that nightmare is LaRussa putting Rick Ankiel up to bat as a pinch hitter for the final out in Games 1 and 3. Both times, it took just three straight pitches to strike him out. Good call, Tony.

There were a lot of bad plays and missed opportunities, which is too bad, because they really did play well in the regular season, up until the last couple of weeks. Now it’ll be up to the 2010 Cardinals to bring the World Series trophy back to St. Louis. April will be here before we know it.

Who has the best record in the National League?

Answer: The St. Louis Cardinals

Cardinals Logo

Yep. They’ve been tied for first place with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a while, but that changed Wednesday. The Cardinals completed a sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers Wednesday afternoon, and the Dodgers lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks the same evening. That puts the Cardinals (84-57) a game ahead of the Dodgers (83-58), and at the top of the overall National League standings. And, I might just mention, they’re 11.5 games ahead of their nearest Central Division rival, the Chicago Cubs.

Also, the Cardinals’ magic number for clinching the Central Division title is now 12. GO CARDS!

Team W L Pct. GB
St. Louis Cardinals 84 57 .596
LA Dodgers 83 58 .589 1
Philadelphia Phillies 79 58 .577 3
Colorado Rockies 80 60 .571 3.5
San Francisco Giants 76 64 .543 7.5
Florida Marlins 74 65 .532 9
Chicago Cubs 71 67 .514 11.5
Atlanta Braves 71 68 .511 12
Houston Astros 68 71 .489 15
Milwaukee Brewers 66 73 .475 17
Cincinnati Reds 63 76 .453 20
San Diego Padres 63 78 .447 21
New York Mets 62 77 .446 21
Arizona Diamondbacks 62 79 .440 22
Pittsburgh 54 84 .391 28.5
Washington 47 92 .338 36

Good to be back

Hello, everyone. I’ve been in Chicago the past couple of days. Did I miss anything while I was gone?

Of course, when I say I was “in Chicago,” what I really mean is, I was in the northwest suburbs — Elk Grove Village, to be exact. I went up for some work-related training.

But while I was there, you’ll never guess what I did. I went to a Cubs game. Yep, the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Not only that, but the night I was there (Tuesday, 9/1), they won! I think just having a Cardinals fan in the house brought them good luck against another Central Division rival.

I have to admit, I really like Wrigley Field. It’s a neighborhood ballpark. It really is. You go in there, and there’s this feeling like you’re all friends, these are all your neighbors, and you’re just hanging out at the ballgame, like people might hang out at the Chiefs game here in Peoria (except that the tickets are about six times as much at Wrigley). We had great seats, too — right behind home plate, about 20 rows back.

With such a great ballpark that, thankfully, has not been torn down or abandoned yet, it’s really a shame that the Cubs organization can’t seem to field a team that’s a real contender. But on the other hand, if they ever did, then the Cubs might get more popular, and then they’d have to build a bigger, newer, fancier stadium somewhere else in Chicago, and ticket prices would go up, and… well, things just wouldn’t be the same.

Incidentally, all during the game, I kept my eye on the manual scoreboard out in center field. I watched as they updated the score on the St. Louis – Milwaukee game. The Cardinals, of course, won. Again. It’s been three years since the Cards won the World Series. It’s about time for them to bring home the trophy again.

In happier news….

Cardinals LogoBaseball season started again this week. That’s right — the boys of summer are back!

Whitey’s recently got new high-definition televisions, too. That will make watching the Cardinals go to the World Series this year all the better. Do you realize the last time the Cardinals won the World Series was 2006? That’s three years ago! It’s time to go back.

And hey, the All-Star Game is in St. Louis this year! Maybe this will be the year the National League wins and gets home-field advantage for the World Series.

Congrats to the Phillies

Last night, the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series for the second time in their 126-year franchise history by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3. The game actually started Monday night, but ended up getting suspended in the middle of the sixth inning due to rain. The Phillies beat the Rays four games to one in the best-of-seven series.

So ends the 2008 baseball season. Hopefully the Cardinals will make some key acquisitions in the off-season and return to the World Series next year.