“We\u2019ve got a whole bunch of teams that want to embarrass us every time we get onto the field.” Matheny said. “We just take care of our own business. That\u2019s a great philosophy. We take care of ourselves. We\u2019re not going to single out a team. Every single one of them is on the hit list.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nIn and of itself, this isn’t a bad philosophy. Baseball is a funny sport in that the Cardinals could theoretically lose all 19 games against the Cubs this upcoming season and still win the division. A win against the Reds or Rockies counts just as much as beating the small bears.<\/p>\n
But for reasons I can’t quite put a finger on, that quote just didn’t sit well with me.<\/p>\n
It still feels like the Cardinals are in denial about their current situation. That they’re somehow on equal footing as the Cubs. That 2016 was fluke.<\/p>\n
Maybe that’s not true. Maybe the face of the organization\u00a0doesn’t want to show the team’s hand and is being coy.<\/p>\n
Maybe it is, though.<\/p>\n
And that’s worrisome.<\/p>\n
When the Cubs were on the outside looking in, they made the conscience decision to take action not only to improve themselves but to win the NL Central year in and year out. They knew who the enemy was, what they liked to do and planned accordingly.<\/p>\n
And here the Cardinals are.<\/p>\n
17.5 games back. But refusing to say the word ‘Cubs’.<\/p>\n
+++++<\/p>\n
There’s a good chance I’m overthinking this.<\/p>\n
There’s a good chance I’m still smarting from the fact that after a literal lifetime of being to bring a Cubs fan back to reality with four numbers – everything has changed.<\/p>\n
I just hope that when the Cardinals are evaluating themselves that they’re not under the delusion that there isn’t a new normal in the NL Central. Because\u00a0even if they don’t want to say it out loud, if every move they make isn’t with the intention of beating the Cubs?<\/p>\n
Well…<\/p>\n
We might just have to hold on to 2011 longer than we want.<\/p>\n
Photo: OC Register<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2011. Here’s how the NL Central finished: 90 wins was good for a Wild Card berth, and, well, you know…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":632355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29057936],"tags":[48187535,55636434,6639421,605040963],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
The Cardinals Won't Talk About The Cubs - The Sports Daily<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n