Cardinal Madness! The Championship!

We’ve reached the end. After a month-long tournament that started with 32 teams, we have narrowed it down to who the Redbird Rants readers feel are the top two Cardinals team of all-time. Details for each team will follow after the jump and voting will continue over the weekend. On Monday, we will crown the greatest Cardinal team of all-time.

(2) 1944 vs (13) 2004

The 1944 team has been on an unexpected run through the tournament. They had a unanimous decision in the third round against the 1926 team, but walked away with very narrow wins in the first, second, and fourth rounds, beating the the 1947, 1987, and 1934 teams by 57%, 55%, and 52% of the vote. The 2004 team defeated the 2002, 1946, 1967, and 1964 teams by margins of 82%, 52%, 52% and 52%. With two teams who have mostly gotten by on narrow margins, who will emerge as the true greatest?

Tale of the Tape

2004		1944
Batting Order		Batting Order
	Player	Pos	R	HR	RBI	BAA	OPS	OPS+		Player	Pos	R	HR	RBI	BAA	OPS	OPS+
1	Tony Womack	2B	91	5	38	0.307	0.735	91	1	Johnny Hopp	CF	106	11	72	0.336	0.903	150
2	Larry Walker	RF	29	11	27	0.28	0.953	143	2	Ray Sanders	1B	87	12	102	0.295	0.812	125
3	Albert Pujols	1B	133	46	123	0.331	1.072	172	3	Stan Musial	RF	112	12	94	0.347	0.99	174
4	Scott Rolen	3B	109	34	124	0.314	1.007	157	4	Walker Cooper	C	56	13	72	0.317	0.855	136
5	Jim Edmonds	CF	102	42	111	0.301	1.061	170	5	Whitey Kurowski	3B	95	20	87	0.27	0.79	118
6	Edgar Renteria	SS	84	10	72	0.287	0.327	88	6	Danny Litwhiler	LF	53	15	82	0.264	0.755	109
7	Reggie Sanders	LF	64	22	67	0.26	0.797	103	7	Marty Marion	SS	50	6	63	0.267	0.686	90
8	Mike Matheny	C	28	5	50	0.247	0.64	65	8	Emil Verban	2B	51	0	43	0.257	0.58	62
9	P								9	P

Bench		Bench
	Player	Pos	R	HR	RBI	BAA	OPS	OPS+		Player	Pos	R	HR	RBI	BAA	OPS	OPS+
1	Yadier Molina	C	12	2	15	0.267	0.684	78	1	Ken O’Dea	C	35	6	37	0.249	0.717	99
2	Marlon Anderson	IF	31	8	28	0.237	0.649	66	2	Augie Bergame	OF	35	2	19	0.286	0.779	117
3	Ray Lankford	OF	36	6	22	0.255	0.774	99	3	George Fallon	IF	16	1	9	0.199	0.547	53
4	John Mabry	OF	32	13	40	0.296	0.867	122	4	Debs Garms	IF	17	0	5	0.201	0.487	36
5	So Taguchi	OF	26	3	25	0.291	0.756	95	5	Pepper Martin	OF	15	2	4	0.279	0.781	118

Starting Rotation		Starting Rotation
Pos	Pitcher	IP	W	L	ERA	K	BB	ERA+	Pos	Pitcher	IP	W	L	ERA	K	BB	ERA+
1	Matt Morris	202	15	10	4.72	131	56	91	1	Mort Cooper	252.1	22	7	2.46	97	60	145
2	Jason Marquis	201.1	15	7	3.71	138	70	115	2	Max Lanier	224.1	17	12	2.65	141	71	135
3	Woody Williams	189.2	11	8	4.18	131	58	102	3	Ted Wilks	207.2	17	4	2.64	70	49	135
4	Jeff Suppan	188	16	9	4.16	110	65	103	4	Harry Brecheen	189.1	16	5	2.85	88	46	126
5	Chris Carpenter	182	15	5	3.46	152	38	124	5	Red Munger	121	11	3	1.34	55	41	268

Bullpen		Bullpen
Pos	Pitcher	IP	W	L	ERA	K	BB	ERA+	Pos	Pitcher	IP	W	L	ERA	K	BB	ERA+
CP	Jason Isringhausen	75.1	4	2	2.87	71	23	150	CP	Freddy Schmidt	114.1	7	3	3.15	58	58	114
RP	Cal Eldred	67	4	2	3.76	54	17	114	RP	Al Jurisch	130	7	9	3.39	53	65	106
RP	Julian Tavarez	64.1	7	4	2.38	48	19	181	RP	Bix Donnelly	76.1	2	1	2.12	45	34	169
RP	Ray King	62	5	2	2.61	40	24	164	RP	Bud Byerly	42.1	2	2	3.4	13	20	106
RP	Steve Kline	50.1	2	2	1.79	35	17	241	RP	Harry Gumbert	61.1	4	2	2.49	16	19	144

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