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One of the more impressive facts about the St. Louis Cardinals organization is that they've only had one last place finish since 1918, which happened when they went 70-92 in 1990. But even that year they managed to scrape out 70 wins. Now failing to win even 70, that's a true testament to being bad and the Cardinals have only done that once since 1955, when they finished the 1978 season with 69 wins.
Curious to how this ranks with the rest of MLB, I looked at every other team using 1956 as my starting point (because it's not a true fun fact unless you've tailored the parameters to fit your narrative). Any year (1981, 1994, 1995) with a work stoppage was excluded. And keep in mind that a lot of these teams weren't even playing baseball in 1956. So without further ado, here's how many times each team has failed to reach 70 wins since 1955 ranked from most to least. As you see the Cardinals fare pretty well.
Chicago Cubs - 15 (heh)
Oakland Athletics - 15
Milwaukee Brewers - 14
New York Mets - 14
Pittsburgh Pirates - 13
San Diego Padres - 13
Seattle Mariners - 13
Washington Senators/Texas Rangers - 12
Kansas City Royals - 12
Minnesota Twins - 11
Baltimore Orioles - 11
Atlanta Braves - 10
Cleveland Indians - 10
Houston Astros - 10
Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals - 10
Tampa Bay Rays - 9
Detroit Tigers - 8
Colorado Rockies - 7
Cincinnati Reds - 5
Miami Marlins - 5
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim - 3
Boston Red Sox - 2
New York Yankees - 2
St. Louis Cardinals - 1
There you go, one more reason to be obnoxious, which is really the best part about paying attention to baseball in the first place.
Here's what you may have missed yesterday at VEB:
Carlos Martinez
Carlos Martinez mowed down the Brewers on Monday and luckily for us Joe Schwarz took a deeper look at what was likely Martinez's best start of the season. And since yesterday was Tsunamy Thursday, Lil Scooter detailed Martinez's recent trip to Cardinals Kids Cancer Center. Watch the accompanying video. It's fantastic.
Run Differential
I took a look at the Cardinals' +52 run differential, which is the third best in the National League, and whether that means anything at this point in the season. Frankly, I have no idea but I'm fine assuming it means there will be another World Series parade in downtown St. Louis this October if you are.
Have a great weekend, everyone.