What better way to start than with the team who is at the top of the mountain, the St. Louis Cardinals. What a climb, first of all.
An entire 162 game season comes down to one final series, and two teams neck and neck for the coveted and most dangerous wildcard playoff spot. With some help from their “enemy with benefits”, those cheese-steak eaters, they are able to top the Atlanta Blew-its, for the wildcard spot. And the rest is history, riding Mr. “Ice in his veins” Freese, “P-h-a-t” Albert, and a re-ignited professional "Carpenter", they "Breese" through the playoff competition with vigor, integrity, and a we’re going to score when we want attitude. Yet again, proving the team who comes hottest into the playoffs, and makes the most pitching changes along the way, will be the most elusive to losing a playoff series.
Here’s a collection of fans riding yet another decent season with their team, and riding it down to the very last game. It’s practically everything you want as a baseball fan. A team playing to the last pitch in every inning of every game, with a never quit attitude. The attitude is contagious for every baseball fan. It’s a true baseball pastime story to see a team with true grit and never back down attitudes (yes, I did just reference those two movies in the same sentence), grind out a World Series win from the wildcard spot.
I must say though, the view at the top of mountain since the day the Cardinals won the World Series has significantly changed. Rather than seeing prancing unicorns, benevolent rainbows, and Carl Weathers playing the piano in a happy place; Cardinals fans are now peering out over a dismal skyline of winter bah-humbugs.
The haunting news of Tony Larussa’s retirement stemming ironically around Halloween, seemed like one big trick with no treat. The captain of the ship proved quite illustrious and relentless in his way of handling his chess pieces so frequently, and his moves were the exact edge and unpredictability the Cardinals needed to put them into the promise land. So the Captain jumped ship, he got us this far, who’s to say we can’t do the rest? What’s a captain without his crew?
Then came, for lack of a better term, the Cardinal Sin. Mr. St. Louis, The Machine, Albert Pujols, goes Hollywood on everyone, and his first movie title, “All Angels go to the HOF”. It was bad enough the captain jumped ship, but now the first mate, who manned the anchor, the sails, and the wheel, has packed his bags for Sunset Boulevard, leaving the fans stuck back on top of the mountain with nothing but a ring and a long treacherous hike down. Fans might say Benedict Albert! I say welcome to free agency!
When spring training rolls around it will certainly be interesting to see who takes reign over the wheel and the responsibilities left behind by The Machine. Surely, a road which no player has yet to venture down because of Pujols’ unprecedented ability. But the good thing for Cardinal's fans is the length of the road, they’ll have plenty of time to live and die for their team while looming on every pitch.
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