Over in Los Angeles, there are 11-year-old fans who have never been alive in a year the Dodgers missed the playoffs. It’s remarkable — it’s a run like the Lakers would have, not a baseball team, even with the additional wild card spots. And come to think of it, only once have the Dodgers even needed the wild card to get in.
Eleven straight postseasons, 10 as the division champ. And entering Saturday’s game at Busch Stadium, L.A.
was in first place, yet again, looking ahead at a Dodger dozen. The Cardinals used to be a franchise like this. From 2000-2015, St.
Louis made the playoffs in 12 out of 16 seasons (winning two World Series). Nowadays, they miss the playoffs as often as they make them (four out of past eight from 2016-2023). Is it fair to compare the two franchises? Obviously, the Dodgers have an exorbitant amount of money to spend on, well, everything — from players to draft picks to managers to instructors to, perhaps most importantly, the luxury tax.
But it’s not like this is, say, Missouri and Missouri State. These are still both well-drawing, big city clubs — with a sterling history and a strong reputation — who are competing to win the National League. But here we are, Dodgers vs.
Cardinals, and, in some regards, it doesn’t even feel like they’re in the same league. Part of this is the Cardinals’ own slippage: a weakened minor league system, aging big-league stars who are highly paid, a pitching rotation losing steam, regrettable trades and .