Our most honest self isn’t someone we want to see tonight.
Or tomorrow.
The rest of the month, for sure.
+++++
The Cubs have beaten the Cardinals 3 games to 1 in the NLDS and will move on to face the Mets or Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, ending a run of 4 straight NLCS trips for the Cardinals.
The sight of the Cubs – for the first time in their franchise history – clinching a playoff series inside the walls of Wrigley Field is a visual that will haunt Cardinals fans nightmares all winter. It’s an awful feeling when you’re eliminated in the playoffs.
Somehow it’s worse against the Cubs.
So much for the one advantage this city had over Chicago.
— Brian S. (@downtownstlbiz) October 13, 2015
We’re going to hear about it. After 100+ years of inferiority in the regular season, it was the Cubs who won the first head-to-head games when it mattered most. If I were Cub fan, I’d be crowing from the rooftops until I had no voice. And then I’d crow some more.
I’d stay off Facebook for a while if you’ve got Chicago friends.
They don’t hang banner for NLDS champs, though. And the Cubs still have to win two more series for a World Series.
Right? RIGHT?
+++++
Our most honest self isn’t focused on the immediate past, though. The future is too grim.
+++++
The Cubs are young. And good.
Cubs are the 2nd team ever to start 4+ rookies in a lineup in the postseason (also done by 2007 Diamondbacks, 3x)
via @EliasSports
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 12, 2015
This wasn’t a team built to beat the Cardinals in 2015.
In fact, the Cubs opted for an extra year of control of Kris Bryant over having him start the season in The Show. They singed Jon Lester to a big free agent deal, but were still looking for 2-3 arms to round out the rotation while the young hitters found their way against MLB pitching.
The best laid plans and all that, though…
Here they are, beating the brakes off the Cardinals. In the postseason.
https://twitter.com/Waydough64/status/654071077266587652
Baez/Russell/Rizzo/Bryant/Schwarber/Soler? Even if some of these guys don’t reach their true potential, that’s a hell of a lineup to deal with next year. And the year after. And the year after that.
Worse?
All the Cardinals fans that just expected the Cubs to Cub it up sooner or later in the NLDS got a Carlos Martinez cup of cold water to the face. These aren’t the same old Cubs.
The Cardinals were the hopeless ones, pleading with the umpire for better calls, while the Cubs just went out and won.
+++++
Our most honest self knows the truth.
+++++
The Cardinals overachieved in 2015.
Decimated by injuries, they somehow gritted themselves to 100 wins against all odds. When we pull out the yearbooks in 2020, we’ll wonder just how the hell this team won that many games. It’s a testament to Mike Matheny and the players on this team that they did what they did.
Unfortunately, another year has passed. Another playoff chance squandered. #12in12 has hit fast forward to #12in16, feels like.
I don’t think the Cardinals will stand down to the Cubs next year. They’ll compete. But is the upside of the Cardinals better than the upside of the Cubs as we sit here right now?
Candidly – no. I can’t say that it is.
The Cardinals have more players close to bigger paydays. Have less premium picks making their way through the system. Employ bigger salaries that aren’t producing.
THIS was the year to beat the Cubs. It’s going to be harder in 2016. Harder in 2017. Harder in 2018.
[Deep sigh.]+++++
Maybe our true self is wrong. Maybe we’re typing all these words because losing sucks and losing to the Cubs sucks more. Maybe the Cardinals will sign Heyward and 2 other studs and the Cubs have a nasty hangover in 2016 and #12 is just a bit delayed.
Or maybe we just saw the changing of the guard.
The worst part is having to wait #12 months to find out.
Photo: Sports Mockery
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