St Louis Cardinals: The Franchise All-Time Bracket
No. 3 vs 6 seed
The 1967 St Louis Cardinals presented a lineup with a plausible all-star at every position. In left, Brock stole 52 bases. In center, Curt Flood hit .335. Orlando Cepeda batted .325 at first with 111 RBIs.
On the mound, Gibson went 13-7 until sidelined from mid-July to early September by an injury. But Steve Carlton emerged as a star and supporting players of the stripe of Dick Hughes, Ray Washburn, and Larry Jaster covered for Gibson’s absence.
The Cards won the 1967 pennant by 10 and one-half games.
The 1926 Cardinals won the franchise’s first pennant in the National League, then beat New York in the World Series. Although not one of Rogers Hornsby’s great individual seasons, he still batted .317. Bottomley led in RBIs with 120, and third baseman Les Bell (100 RBIs) led in batting average at .325
Flint Rhem was a 20-game winner on a staff buttressed by the mid-season acquisition of 39-year-old Grover Cleveland Alexander.
Game 1: With its .627 regular-season record, the 1967 team gets the better of the 1926 club’s .578.
Game 2: Another Game 2 deadlock, both teams winning seven-game series in pre-division era matchups.
Game 3: Both teams amassed 101-team OPS+. So we need a tie-breaker, and that involves considering only the non-pitchers. But both teams’ non-pitchers produced 109 OPS+. The second tie-breaker is the highest OPS+ among those players with at least 500 plate appearances. Bell was at 137 for the 1926 team. For the 1967 Cardinals, Cepeda reached 164. That’s a win for 1967.
Game 4: Another narrow win for 1967. The staff’1 08 ERA+ is a bare point superior to the 1926 team’s 107.
Game 5: The 1967 Cardinals produced a 46.4 WAR. That’s good enough to eliminate the 1926 champs, whose WAR was 38.8.
Result: 1967 in five games (one tie).