You also got to look at what happened to those teams after they won. Red Sox got riddled with injuries and brought in a lot of players so they could repeat band screwed their team dynamic. The White Sox ran their young team into the ground, burnt out, hit the wall...  The Steelers or anyof the more recent teams in the NFL? Well, the Steelers lost big ben essentially and a bunch of other key guys like Randle El. Plus, aside from the Patriots the parity in the NFL is huge.

The Redbirds kept most everything intact but the starting rotation... lets just say we pick up Brad Pennyfrom the Dodgers... then we'd be all good! Unlike the Marlins who sold their teams down the river after they won both their championships, wekept almost everyone. The way I see it is the Marlins would have at least 2 more titles!

The way I see it... The Cards have a great chance to keep their streak of ruling the NL Central alive this season. If our key guys stay healthy and our pitching continues to solidify then what's to stop us? Now, winning the series again??? That's a tougher task. But anything is possible.

The Marlins are the firesale "get hot" and dispose team, so they don't count.  I don't know/care about hockey.  The Steelers lost some core players that made their model work correctly.  The Red Sox pitching wasn't that great in 05 and they lost the prime "engine" of the offence in Damon but still competed.  The Wite Sox won 90 games so I wouldn't say they shouldn't have been there.  What it comes down to is the competition during the season and the crapshoot at the end of it.  The "core" of our team is still intact and still has a few years left in its prime (although I think Jimmy's on his last legs)  As long as we keep putting inexpensive pieces on the core we will always be right there in the hunt.  What a great run we are experiencing!  (Makes up for those crappy 70's teams)

If they remain healthy and at least one of Wainwright and Reyes and Wells--or somebody new like Penny--really steps up (with the other two at least keeping average), yep--they'll make playoffs. I agree that just about everybody but the Pirates has a chance, but this team is still the class of the Central. If they want it badly enough to really fight for it, they'll take it. Beyond winning the division...now there's a puzzle. My expectations plummet from there. But, then again, whoda thunk they'd come together the way they did in October last year?