years ending in 8 are generally not auspicious for the cardinals. the 8 year was the cards' worst of the 1930s and 1970s (71-80 and 69-93, respectively), and their 2d-worst of the 1900s, 1940s, 1950s, and 1980s. the team has never had its best year of a given decade in the 8 year. their second-worst record of the post-1900 era came in an 8 year (1908); their worst season of the last 80-plus years came in an 8 year (1978). in short, the cardinals generally suck during years ending in 8. among the 10 possible year-ending digits, only one has witnessed an overall losing record for the franchise: 8.
| years ending in |
won-loss | pct |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 858-851 | .502 |
| 1 | 923-722 | .561 |
| 2 | 901-806 | .528 |
| 3 | 868-843 | .507 |
| 4 | 914-769 | .543 |
| 5 | 891-821 | .520 |
| 6 | 867-862 | .501 |
| 7 | 913-816 | .528 |
| 8 | 748-796 | .484 |
| 9 | 779-770 | .503 |
looking on the bright side, the franchise has a .530 winning percentage in leap years, vs just a .514 percentage in non-leap years (since 1900). and the team has finished first in 7 of the 27 leap years since 1900 (26 percent), vs 14 first-place finishes in the 81 non-leap years (15 percent).
one last factor to consider: the 2000s are currently the cards' second-winningest decade, but they'll need to finish it off with a couple of good years or it'll slide to 3d, possibly to 4th:
| decade | won-loss | pct |
|---|---|---|
| 1940s | 960-580 | .6234 |
| 2000s | 736-559 | .5683 |
| 1930s | 869-665 | .5665 |
| 1960s | 884-718 | .5518 |
as long as the cards are no worse than 9 games under .500 over the next two seasons combined (ie, 79 wins a year), they'll conclude the 2000s with a winning percentage higher than .5518, good for 3d place. to maintain the decade's 2d-place standing, the team will have to average 91 wins over the next couple of seasons.
happy new year ev'yone.