Cardinals: Other teams can take the spotlight, St. Louis takes the win

As a crowded field of National League playoff contenders begins to thin, the 2019 St. Louis Cardinals keep doing what they do best.

The St. Louis Cardinals keep it simple. They win. Year in and year out, no matter the turnover, when the baseball season starts, they win baseball games.

The Cardinals are your friend who’s always on time. They dress well, not necessarily fashionable, but neat. Always neat. They wake up early and don’t stay up too late. They stick to their workout routine. You might describe them by saying, They’re solid.

There’s a good chance this friend of yours is religious, and not in a lazy liberal arts I’m spiritual kind of way. Like, they go to church.

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They probably aren’t your most fun friend, or your funniest friend, not that you’d say so out loud, out of respect.

Except to your spouse, with whom you beat around the bush until you’re sure you’re on the same page and one of you is brave enough to say it: He’s kinda boring, you say, and before the words are out of your mouth, your spouse blurts out, He’s sooo boring. This is a fun moment because if you weren’t laughing at them, you’d have to feel bad for envying them. You’d have to feel bad for knowing you’re worse.

The Cardinals are boring. They’re sooo boring. The rest of us are worse.

It comes down to discipline, right? They have a belief system – The Cardinal Way – and they stick to it even when it’s hard. They have a type, but they aren’t boxed in by it. They’re careful with money, but not cheap. They’re judicious. They don’t overreach. They learn from their mistakes.

Do you or your favorite team keep making the same mistakes? That’s because you’re not the Cardinals.

Most of all, the Cardinals win baseball games. They haven’t had a losing season since 2007, the year after they won the World Series despite with an 83-win club. The Cardinals learned something from those juxtaposed seasons: stay in it. Stay competitive, and you never what can happen. They’ve done exactly that, and in a year bookmarked for the Cubs or Brewers, the Cardinals sit atop the NL Central.

In the last 11 years – all winning seasons – St. Louis missed the playoffs only five times, including the last three years. With the Cubs and Brewers both coming to prominence in recent seasons, St. Louis has tied their longest playoff drought since 1997 to 1999.

Feeling the pressure, they took tactical action by acquiring Paul Goldschmidt from Arizona. The move was slightly atypical, but not wholly out of character, especially considering how much Goldschmidt fits the Cardinal mold.

One would think the move would have put the NL on notice: the Cards are back. Yet, with less than two weeks left in the season, they’re firmly in playoff position – but still an afterthought. Newsflash: they don’t mind. Or rather, they’ll use it as motivation to keep coming to work and doing their jobs.

Monday night against the Nationals, the Cardinals kept things very simple: just have Marcell Ozuna do everything. The impending free agent homered in the first, doubled home two more in the seventh, and threw a runner out at home in a 4-2 win at home.

With the Cubs and Brewers winning, the Cards needed this one to keep their two-game division lead. The Nationals, who themselves haven’t had a losing season since 2011, are embroiled in the NL Central race despite their objections, as their Wild Card lead tightened to a half-game over the Cubs and 1 1/2 over the Brewers for the second Wild Card.

The Cardinals stay above the fray. Winning games. Making it look simple.