Sure, the Cardinals defeated the Dodgers in the playoffs for the second straight year following Tuesday night’s NLDS clinching 3-2 win, but 28 other teams are sick of seeing St. Louis in the National Championship Series yet again. Here’s why:
The Cardinals are advancing to their 9th NLCS in 15 years.
It is their 4th consecutive championship series. The last team to make four in a row was the 98-01 Yankees in the American League.
The Cardinals have 30 playoff wins since 1999, most in baseball. In 2nd place is the Giants with 26.
The Cardinals had an NL worst 105 homers during the 2014 season.
Of those homers, only 8 came off left-handed hitters against soutpaws. Those same lefties hit five HRs off the Dodgers southpaws in four playoff games.
The home run Matt Adams hit in Game 4 of the NLDS Tuesday night was the first three-run homer Clayton Kershaw has given up in two years and it was the first home run by a lefty against his curve ball in his career.
Game 4 hero Matt Adams was a 23rd round pick.
“Of the nine players in the Cardinals’ starting lineup Tuesday, St. Louis drafted six. Of the seven relievers and substitutions who subsequently took the field, five came up through the Cardinals’ minor league system.” – [S.I.]
A new attendance record was set for Busch Stadium — “Ticket sales and marketing director Martin Coco says 47,574 fans attended Division Series Game 3, over 100 more than were on hand for game 4 of last year’s World Series.” [CBS Local]
The Cardinals have defeated Clayton Kershaw 4 consecutive times in the playoffs. Kershaw is the first Dodgers pitcher to lose 4 straight consecutive postseason starts.
The Giants head to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals in the 2014 NLCS Saturday. The matchup is a rematch of the 2012 NLCS in which the Cards blew a 3-1 lead, allowing the Giants to surge back en route to their second World Series title in three years.
“Since the wild-card system began in 1995, there have been more NLCS played with either St. Louis, San Francisco or both (11) than without (9).” – [S.I.]
Josh Helmuth is the editor of CraveOnline Sports.
Photo Credit: Getty
