Oso planning to go pro
I don’t. Things can and do change all of the time. None of the three top teams in the division are what I would call strong. The Cardinals biggest challenge is offense and scoring runs. Bullpen is a strength. This season they have been strong against bad teams and close to .500 against winning record teams. It’s not one of their stronger teams. But that doesn’t always guarantee success or no success. Their 2006 team won 83 games (many later in season too) and won the World Series. While, their 2004 and 2005 teams were 105 win type teams and didn’t win a title. Their 2011 title team had a mix. Many of their fans wish they still had former team exec Jeff Luhnow (Houston) but St. Louis isn’t the kind of franchise that would tank seasons for picks like what happened in Houston and Chicago. They are big on trying to be competitive every year. They need a few big hitters this year. We’ll see what happens. I always felt turning down Francona to hire Matheny a few years back was a mistake as well. But they often find a way to be in the mix many seasons.
"Best fans in baseball""Play the right way"Yada yada yada
What'd he say that was incorrect?
Nothing.St. Louis may not be the absolute best fans in baseball, but its one of the few towns in America where baseball reigns supreme. There's no NFL football (in no small measure because the NFL does not like to be second fiddle to anyone), there's no NBA and only the NHL with which to compete. College sports locally and Missouri? I guess that's what you call Mizzou. The Illini have, lucky them, Lovie!Cardinal fans aren't like Cub fans. While they know their team won't win every year, they expect everyone from the President of the team to the batboy to try to win. Doing a dump like the Cubs, Marlins, Astros and lots of other teams have done would, as noted elsewhere in this post, be fatal in St. Louis. If any Cardinal general manager sold off the talent, there would not be 1,000 people per night at Busch. The Baltimore Orioles of 2019, with their proud tradition and now awful team, we are definitely not.To be loveable losers and go 108 years without a World Championship is NOT in our DNA.Cubs fans, who would turn out 30,000 strong if the team put the Jesse White Tumblers on the field, often diss Cardinal fans for being fair weather fans. "We're real fans who support our team year in and year out," Cub fans often say. "Bahhh," we say back. "We have expectations. Our ballpark used to be one of the seven great pre-cast wonders of the world. The summer heat in St.Louis is miserable. We go for the baseball. We expect good baseball because, candidly, that's most of the sports scene in St. Louis."
In the NL Central, if the Cards, Cubs or Brewers can put together 2 good weeks -- go 10-3 or the like -- will take total control. And a team that has 2 bad weeks ... probably time to stick a fork in them. Should be an interesting 6 weeks to the finish line.Cubs would seem to be the pretty heavy favorites with that rotation (before they started giving up 10 runs every other game, anyway) and a solid everyday lineup that includes a former MVP and another near-MVP ... but there's something about the Cardinals that makes me want to pick them.
It's the fans.
Re: your sig...TT said Devante. Don't think he was talking about Davante there.
Respectfully this isn’t accurate and I disagree.
This is the very definition of fair weather fan. Yes, winning teams draw more butts in the seats, but if Cardinal Nation (TM) is as good of a fan base as you claim, they should be there through thick and thin.Also made an edit to an incorrect sentence. Any town that puts that fake-ass cheese on their pizza and claim it's good has no right to judge anyone or anything.
Name me one team in any sport other than the NFL that draws the same number of fans regardless of whether the team is good or bad.Perhaps we are misunderstanding something. If ownership takes fans for granted, they pay for it in St. Louis. They don't in Chicago, which is why there was a 108 year World Championship drought. If I'm going to plop $35.00 to $100.00 on a baseball seat and go to the trouble of traveling to the stadium and back, I want at least a reasonable chance my team will win. I know they won't always win -- that's baseball -- but geez, winning makes a fan feel good.Let me take this away from the Cardinal/Cub rivalry for a moment. Look at Miami. Ostensibly, Miami should be one of the best baseball towns in America. New stadium. Population that has a baseball heritage behind it. Big metro area. But attendance is off-the-charts bad. In fact, the Marlins draw far worse than any other team in baseball. Why? Because every time the team gets good, there's a payroll dump. The fans can't get too excited because as soon as the players get good, they are sold. Derek Jeter et al are badly undercapitalized and that makes talent acquisition -- the raw material of baseball -- almost impossible.Are the fans in Kansas City fair weather fans? Or are they simply tired of losing 20 out of 24 years?
The Packers. A ton of college sports teams. Etc.Miami has terrible ticket sales because you could go sit inside a baseball stadium 81 times a year or you could go to the beach. For most people the choice is the beach. It's the same as sports in LA. There have been some great pro (Rams) and college (UCLA) teams that have terrible attendance relative to the product on the field.It's not about the winning as much as it is about the city. What is there to do in St. Louis in August? Go see the Cardinals or go see a giant piece of medal. What is there to do in Green Bay on a Sunday in December? Go watch the Packers or sit on your couch and watch the Packers.
Miami has terrible ticket sales because you could go sit inside a baseball stadium 81 times a year or you could go to the beach. For most people the choice is the beach. It's the same as sports in LA. There have been some great pro (Rams) and college (UCLA) teams that have terrible attendance relative to the product on the field.
Build a good team and Marlins Stadium will rock. Build a consistently good team and Miami will be the capital of baseball!
Brother Wades, have you ever been to Miami in July? Or August?It is not an either/or choice. Baseball in South Florida generally is played at night. Around 7:00 p.m., the beach is not a popular recreational choice. The sun is slowly sinking into the Everglades and the humidity is only slightly less than in a highly pressurized sauna. And if you've ever been to South Florida, you'd also know about the "no-seeums."The baseball stadium is a retractable dome with high-powered air conditioning. It's in the Little Havana neighborhood on the site of the old Orange Bowl. Build a good team and Marlins Stadium will rock. Build a consistently good team and Miami will be the capital of baseball!