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There's Just Something About Them, Isn't There?

It's improbably hard to qualify for the postseason in baseball: 3 division champions in each league, and 2 wild cards in each league, for a total of 10. In truth, there are only 8 teams out of the 30, because the two wild cards must now play each other in a one-game scenario that is new for this year. The St. Louis Cardinals make it look commonplace. They sit atop the National League Central division, with a record of 94-65. They need only to win 1 of the final 3 games to win the Central outright. They cannot fail to qualify for the postseason even if they lost all 3. In addition, any loss by Pittsburgh gives them the division anyway. So, the team with 18 World Series appearances and 11 wins--second only to the Yankees--will make another run.

You have to wonder how a team in a fairly small city like St. Louis wins so often. More than that, they will finish second in home attendance in all of baseball, trailing only the Los Angeles Dodgers. Having lived here all my life, I can only say that optimism is in the water. Yet so are high expectations. Winning attitude + baseball=winning baseball. Simple as that.

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