Success breeds contempt, and the Cardinals are among the most successful National League teams. So are the San Francisco Giants, their opponents when the NL Championship Series opens Saturday at Busch Stadium.
We’ll list five reasons (all in good fun) to root against the Cardinals here, but do a quick Google search and you’ll find approximately 11 bajillion other reasons.
1. BFIB
Those Cardinals fans who radically embrace the “Best Fans In Baseball” label, who shout their love of all things Cardinals from the tops of the Gateway Arch, really make it easy for everyone to hate the entire fan base. Plus, as so many places have extensively documented, there are plenty of Cardinals fans who just aren’t good people. And sure, all fan bases contain that element, but they don’t claim the BFIB moniker. And then there are signs like this that are just way over the top. Try not to throw up in your mouth, please.
2. These guys again?
This franchise has made the postseason 11 times since the start of the 2000 season, and this is the ninth time in that stretch the Cardinals made the NLCS. Pretty much every fan base in the NL has reason to hate the Cards for ending their World Series dreams lately. Since 2000, the Cardinals eliminated these teams from the postseason, in chronological order: Braves, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Astros, Padres, Padres (again), Mets, Tigers, Phillies, Brewers, Rangers, Braves (again), Nationals, Pirates, Dodgers (again), Dodgers (yep, again).
3. The Cardinal Way
Former manager Tony La Russa could be perceived equal parts sanctimonious and insufferable, what with his “we do things the right way” attitude, and he clashed with pretty much every manager at one point or another. And almost everyone outside of St. Louis hated David Eckstein, seen as the La Russa poster child, mostly because of how much the people inside St. Louis loved him.
4. Because the mayor of St. Louis is the worst BFIB of them all
Seriously, did you see Francis Slay’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal? It was La Russa-level insufferable, to the point that pretty much every Cardinals fan read it, secretly cringed, and then dug in their heels and said, “You know what? Screw everyone else. The Cardinals are the best! Where’s my Eckstein jersey?”
5. #CardinalsDevilMagic
It’s so damn hard to kill these Cardinals, who already have 11 World Series titles. Down to their last strike twice in Game 6 of the 2011 World Series? No problem. Plenty of time to crush the hopes of a Rangers franchise that has never won it all (at least not in Texas). Down to their last strike twice in the 2012 NLDS? No problem. Plenty of time to deliver the knockout blow to a Nationals franchise that had known nothing but heartbreak since originating as the Montreal Expos in 1969. The Pirates hadn’t even been to the playoffs since 1992, and the Cardinals knocked them out in a 2013 NLDS. The Brewers hadn’t been to the World Series since 1982, and the Cardinals ended that dream in the 2011 NLCS. Let someone else have a turn, dammit.
• • •
Meanwhile, baseball fans in Los Angeles have pretty much always hated the Giants, so they don’t need any list to feed their dislike. But you might.
The Giants, winners of the 2010 and 2012 World Series, are back in the National League Championship Series. The Cardinals match them in terms of NL success in pennants and baseball titles. Their series begins Saturday at Busch Stadium before heading west.
Here are five reasons (all in good fun) to root against the Giants.
1. October isn’t supposed to be this easy
The Giants only made the playoffs twice in 10 years heading into the 2014 season, but they won the World Series in both of those postseason appearances. That’s not how it’s supposed to work. In 2010, they won 11 of their 15 games. That was too easy. In 2012, they lost the first two games of their NLDS to the Cincinnati Reds, and then swept the next three. In the NLCS, they fell behind the Cardinals 3-1, and then swept the next three to win the series. Baseball teams are not supposed to be able to make that type of backs-to-the-wall comeback once, much less twice. And in the World Series, they bum-rushed the Tigers in a 4-0 sweep.
2. Even numbers aren’t a supportable statistic
The Giants were the surprise winners of the 2010 World Series (fifth in MLB in wins during the regular season) and then basically followed the same underdog role in winning the 2012 World Series (tied for fourth in wins with two other teams). That doesn’t mean they’ll do the same thing in 2014. Never mind that they made the postseasonwith the fewest wins of any team to qualify.
3. AT&T service is often horrible
The Giants’ ballpark is a true jewel among sports stadiums. But the name, AT&T Park, evokes a visceral reaction for those who suffered for years with the dreaded “no service: and “call failed” messages on their phones. And, really, how can you root for a team that plays in a park named by an entity that has been the bane of your existence for so long, all while hoovering money from your pocket?
4. Hunter Pence is so damn awkward
How can a team win another World Series with one of its best players thriving with throwing motions and swings that look like he’s playing baseball for the first time? Plus, Pence’s crazy-eyed stares make you wonder exactly what he paid to the devil in exchange for success on the baseball diamond.
5. Shadow heroes
It just doesn’t seem right that the Giants can make October heroes of run-of-the-mill players. Remember 2010, when Cody Ross suddenly became Barry Bonds? A midseason pickup who didn’t play particularly well with three homers in 33 games, Ross hit five homers in 15 games, including two homers off Roy Halladay in Game 1 of the NLCS. And then in 2012, Marco Scutaro, who had never hit above .299 in any season, hit .362 in 61 games for the Giants and a combined .409 in the NLCS and World Series.
