It is easy to overlook a team like the St. Louis Cardinals—which seemingly makes the playoffs every season—merely winning a division, but its 2015 National League Central championship was quite a feat.
St. Louis clinched its third straight division title Wednesday with an 11-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the second game of a doubleheader. It marked the fifth consecutive season the Cardinals made the postseason, and they became the first team in the majors to win 100 games in the process.
ESPN Stats & Info noted the Cardinals' ninth 100-win season puts them behind only the New York Yankees (19) and Oakland Athletics (10) in baseball history.
A division title is worth celebrating any season, but the National League Central was a minefield in 2015. The Cardinals have the best record in Major League Baseball at 100-59, but the Pittsburgh Pirates boast the second-best mark at 96-63. The Chicago Cubs are also heading to the playoffs with the National League’s third-best record at 93-65.
That’s right, the top three teams in the National League, at least record-wise, all reside in the same division. The Cardinals had to play those formidable opponents throughout the season and still have 100 wins on their 2015 resume. It seems fitting St. Louis—which has been in first place since April 16—beat its closest challenger in a head-to-head showdown to clinch the crown.
Jon Morosi of Fox Sports highlighted just how dominant the division has been this year:
Divisional play began in 1969. Since then, there have been only two occasions in which three of the majors' top four records came from a single division, according to STATS LLC:
* 1978 AL East: No. 1 Yankees (100-63), No. 2 Red Sox (99-64), No. 4 Brewers (93-69)
* 1983 AL East: No. 2 Orioles (98-64), No. 3 Tigers (92-70), No. 4 Yankees (91-71)
In other words, over nearly a half-century of divisional play, no NL divisional trio has been as dominant—relative to the rest of the majors—as the current Cardinals, Pirates and Cubs.
Overcoming that type of competition deserves a celebration, and the Cardinals delivered on that as well. The team shared the final out, and MLB captured the reaction:
ESPN provided a checklist of what St. Louis accomplished with its most recent win:
The team summed up its incredible season with a visual:
St. Louis seized the opportunity to revel in its accomplishments after Wednesday's victory, as the club and Fox Sports Midwest provided a glimpse of the locker room after the game:
Jason Heyward, whom MLB showed celebrating, hit a home run and tallied four RBI in the victory:
Naturally with this team, pitching paved the way in the clinching performance Wednesday. Tyler Lyons threw seven innings of shutout baseball and only allowed four hits en route to the victory. Bob Pompeani of KDKA TV praised the pitcher’s ability to rise to the occasion with the division on the line despite significant time off:
It was business as usual for a Cardinals pitching staff that has the best ERA in baseball by a wide margin even though it lost ace Adam Wainwright for most of the season to injury (he is now back in the bullpen).
Entering play Wednesday, St. Louis’ 2.89 team ERA was far ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates' 3.20 mark, which was second best in the league. The gap was closer between the Los Angeles Dodgers at No. 5 and the Pirates than between the Nos. 1 and 2 spots.
That is a credit to starters John Lackey, Michael Wacha, Lance Lynn, Carlos Martinez, Jaime Garcia and a strong bullpen anchored by Trevor Rosenthal and Kevin Siegrist, among others. Even with Wainwright ailing, the pitching staff carried this team through a daunting division all season.
Injuries were the other theme for the 2015 Cardinals.
Wainwright, Matt Adams, Matt Holliday, Randal Grichuk, Jon Jay, Lynn, Garcia, Martinez and Yadier Molina have all dealt with various ailments, and some of them are of the season-ending variety.
Despite the long-term loss of its ace, a budding pitching star in Martinez, a proven veteran and former All-Star in Holliday and the heart and soul of the team in Molina—even youngster Stephen Piscotty was hurt Monday in a nasty outfield collision—this is still the best squad in baseball.
Jon Heyman of CBS Sports praised St. Louis for its ability to persevere:
At least Wainwright is back to bolster the bullpen and got to celebrate, per Drew Silva of NBC Sports:
While these setbacks may ultimately prove costly in the postseason, when every pitch is magnified and the best players perform under pressure, it is a testament to the Cardinals’ resiliency and the job manager Mike Matheny did all year that St. Louis sits atop the best division in baseball with the best record in baseball.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today wondered if Matheny is 2015's best manager and also noted the Cardinals' leader became the first skipper in MLB history to reach the playoffs in his first four years at the helm:
As a result of Matheny and the Cardinals' season-long excellence, they will have home-field advantage throughout the National League playoffs as they battle for an appearance in the World Series.
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