It had come to this.
Tonight marks our 1,131st consecutive regular-season game in which the team still has playoff aspirations entering the day. #STLCards pic.twitter.com/ZYiQSbxT9W
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) September 28, 2017
In a vacuum, that’s an impressive statistic.
It’s been a long time since the Cardinals have played a “meaningless” game. That is true.
Unfortunately, aspirations aren’t the same as berths.
The Cubs beat the Cardinals 2-1 in extra innings Thursday… and it will officially be (at least) three full calendar years before the Cardinals actually, you know, PLAY a playoff game.
Life comes at you pretty fast.
Matheny: "This is the first time I have to stand up here and say … we fell short of what we wanted to do." #STLCards pic.twitter.com/KUYcjia6vd
— Bally Sports Midwest (@BallySportsMW) September 29, 2017
+++++
I was thinking quite a bit about this Tweet:
Only 30 MLB manager jobs. You should always need a compelling reason to *keep* a manager, not just no compelling reason to fire them.
— Dan Szymborski (@DSzymborski) September 26, 2017
Maybe the Cardinals were responding to Mr. Szymborski with that Tweet at the top of this post.
Maye the Tweet was a subtle rebuttal to Bernie’s savage takedown of Mike Matheny’s management on Wednesday night that featured paragrpahs like:
Or maybe the manager was just freezing under pressure, which we’ve seen many times before. Matheny is six seasons into a Big-Boy job — SIX — and he’s still incapable of managing a bullpen. He continues to screw up, time and time again. He continues to have too many instances of standing still as trouble grows and intensifies and swallows his team. Matheny is the worst I’ve ever seen at this crucial part of managing.
Or maybe the team just needed to post something, anything to save them from seeing this again in their feed:
Last night was amazing! I was actually in Busch Stadium watching my @Cubs celebrate the NL Central Crown on Cardinal turf! #FlyTheW #CubsWin pic.twitter.com/tAKLIgeqKr
— Jamaal Gardner (@RandomJamaal) September 28, 2017
For the record – yes – that was Busch Stadium filled with Cubs fans watching their team ‘Fly the W’ over the Busch Stadium infield after clinching their third straight division championship.
I dunno.
+++++
What I do know?
The Cardinals have seen the standard in the NL Central.
And hopefully – hopefully – this is the offseason they realize that a few roster tweaks here and there aren’t going to get them back on even ground with the Cubs anytime soon.
https://twitter.com/nowaynowah/status/913597292191547392
Photo: STLToday
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