Excessive groups: Cardinals and Cubs

The St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs are ensnared in a rivalry that’s notably lengthy and infrequently bitter.

That’s what occurs when two groups have performed in the identical league since 1892 and are situated in the identical a part of the nation (simply 300 miles aside).

However the indeniable logic of alphabetical order is forcing these fierce rivals to share the highlight in the present day.

I’m devoting every Friday to an examination of the intense seasons for a pair of franchises, their finest and worst years in the course of the Fashionable Period (1961 by means of 2022). The Braves and Brewers had been final week’s duo, which brings us to the following two nicknames on the record. Sure, the Cardinals and the Cubs.

I calculated the workforce scores for each St. Louis and Chicago membership within the 62-year interval, after which I ranked them from finest to worst. The formulation for TS generates an equalized rating on a 100-point scale, permitting direct comparisons of groups from completely different years. (Click on right here to study extra concerning the calculations.)

The next had been the intense seasons for every membership.

Greatest yr for the Cardinals: St. Louis has received 5 world championships within the Fashionable Period. The strongest of these titlists was the 1967 Playing cards, winners of the Nationwide League by 10.5 video games over runner-up San Francisco. The World Sequence was harder, with St. Louis needing seven video games to subdue the Boston Pink Sox. First baseman Orlando Cepeda drove in 111 runs and received the NL’s Most Precious Participant Award. Middle fielder Curt Flood hit for a .335 common. Pitcher Bob Gibson received 13 video games within the common season and three extra within the World Sequence.

Worst yr for the Cardinals: The Nineties had been a depressing decade for the Playing cards, who suffered 5 sub-.500 seasons and made the playoffs solely as soon as. They touched backside in 1995, ending 22.5 video games behind first-place Cincinnati within the NL Central. Proper fielder Brian Jordan batted a stable .296 and stole 24 bases. Nearer Tom Henke by some means gathered 36 saves for a workforce that received solely 62 video games.

Greatest yr for the Cubs: Any baseball fan is aware of the reply on this class. The Cubs loved their biggest season in 2016, once they received their first world title in 108 years. It was an in depth name, in fact. Victory didn’t come till the tenth inning of Sport Seven of the World Sequence towards the Cleveland Indians. Third baseman Kris Bryant was named the NL’s MVP after hitting 39 homers and driving residence 102 runs. First baseman Anthony Rizzo added 109 RBIs. Pitchers Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta respectively went 19-5 and 18-8.

Worst yr for the Cubs: The 1981 season was depressing for everyone, because of the midyear lull of two months due to a labor dispute. Nevertheless it was an particularly unhealthy yr for the Cubs, who completed with the worst document within the Nationwide League, 27 video games beneath .500. Mike Krukow was the one pitcher within the rotation to interrupt even, operating up a document of 9-9. First baseman Invoice Buckner batted .311.

For those who scroll down, you’ll see the highest and backside 10 lists for each groups between 1961 and 2022. Comparable rankings for all 30 big-league golf equipment could be discovered within the print version of Baseball’s Best (and Worst) 2023 Yearbook.

Every workforce is listed beneath with the yr in brackets, adopted by its regular-season win-loss document, postseason outcomes (if any) in parentheses, margin between runs scored and allowed per sport, and Fashionable Period percentile.

Postseason outcomes are abbreviated this fashion: P for an look within the playoffs, L for a league championship, and W for a World Sequence title.

The Fashionable Period percentile is the share of all 1,656 golf equipment within the 1961-2022 interval that the given workforce outperformed, primarily based on relative TS outcomes.

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• 1. Cardinals [1967], 101-60 (WLP), plus-0.86 margin, 98.6% in period

• 2. Cardinals [1968], 97-65 (LP), plus-0.69 margin, 98.2% in period

• 3. Cardinals [2004], 105-57 (LP), plus-1.21 margin, 97.5% in period

• 4. Cardinals [1985], 101-61 (LP), plus-1.08 margin, 97.3% in period

• 5. Cardinals [2013], 97-65 (LP), plus-1.15 margin, 96.8% in period

• 6. Cardinals [2005], 100-62 (P), plus-1.06 margin, 95.6% in period

• 7. Cardinals [2011], 90-72 (WLP), plus-0.43 margin, 95.0% in period

• 8. Cardinals [1982], 92-70 (WLP), plus-0.47 margin, 94.7% in period

• 9. Cardinals [1987], 95-67 (LP), plus-0.65 margin, 93.7% in period

• 10. Cardinals [1964], 93-69 (WLP), plus-0.39 margin, 92.9% in period

• 1. Cardinals [1995], 62-81, minus-0.66 margin, 10.3% in period

• 2. Cardinals [1978], 69-93, minus-0.35 margin, 18.1% in period

• 3. Cardinals [1990], 70-92, minus-0.61 margin, 21.5% in period

• 4. Cardinals [1994], 53-61, minus-0.75 margin, 25.1% in period

• 5. Cardinals [2007], 78-84, minus-0.64 margin, 26.9% in period

• 6. Cardinals [1988], 76-86, minus-0.34 margin, 34.7% in period

• 7. Cardinals [1976], 72-90, minus-0.26 margin, 35.2% in period

• 8. Cardinals [1997], 73-89, minus-0.12 margin, 36.8% in period

• 9. Cardinals [1999], 75-86, minus-0.18 margin, 37.5% in period

• 10. Cardinals [1970], 76-86, minus-0.02 margin, 41.0% in period

• 1. Cubs [2016], 103-58 (WLP), plus-1.56 margin, 99.8% in period

• 2. Cubs [2008], 97-64 (P), plus-1.14 margin, 93.2% in period

• 3. Cubs [1984], 96-65 (P), plus-0.65 margin, 90.8% in period

• 4. Cubs [2015], 97-65 (P), plus-0.50 margin, 86.0% in period

• 5. Cubs [1989], 93-69 (P), plus-0.49 margin, 84.7% in period

• 6. Cubs [2018], 95-68 (P), plus-0.71 margin, 81.3% in period

• 7. Cubs [2017], 92-70 (P), plus-0.78 margin, 81.0% in period

• 8. Cubs [1970], 84-78, plus-0.78 margin, 76.9% in period

• 9. Cubs [2004], 89-73, plus-0.77 margin, 76.6% in period

• 10. Cubs [1972], 85-70, plus-0.76 margin, 76.6% in period

• 1. Cubs [1981], 38-65, minus-1.07 margin, 3.8% in period

• 2. Cubs [1980], 64-98, minus-0.70 margin, 4.0% in period

• 3. Cubs [2012], 61-101, minus-0.90 margin, 4.8% in period

• 4. Cubs [1966], 59-103, minus-1.02 margin, 5.3% in period

• 5. Cubs [2006], 66-96, minus-0.73 margin, 5.6% in period

• 6. Cubs [2000], 65-97, minus-0.86 margin, 9.5% in period

• 7. Cubs [1962], 59-103, minus-1.20 margin, 10.0% in period

• 8. Cubs [1999], 67-95, minus-1.07 margin, 11.3% in period

• 9. Cubs [1997], 68-94, minus-0.44 margin, 11.7% in period

• 10. Cubs [1974], 66-96, minus-0.97 margin, 14.7% in period