Nico Hoerner dishes out a bitter reality check regarding the Cardinals-Cubs rivalry

St. Louis Cardinals fans have long prided themselves on their hometown team frequently one-upping its detested nemesis to the north. The Chicago Cubs' three World Series championships can't compare to the Cardinals' 11 titles, and St. Louis' decision to send veteran pitcher Ernie Broglio to Chicago for young outfielder Lou Brock set the bar for lopsided deals in baseball history. But according to Cubs infielder Nico Hoerner, the feud between the Cardinals and Cubs pales in comparison to that of the Cubs and their cross-town complements, the Chicago White Sox.

As sacrilegious as it may be to give a Cub credit for anything, Hoerner has a point. Skirmishes between the Cardinals and Cubs don't feel as though they have the same intensity that they did in the 2000s. Subsequent managers have failed to replicate the screaming matches between Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and Cubs skipper Dusty Baker, and we're unlikely to see anything resembling the 1998 magic of Mark McGwire's battle with Sammy Sosa for the single-season home run record.

The rise of interleague play may play a part in the dwindling ferocity of the rivalry between the teams; the Cardinals and Cubs didn't clash until May 29 this season, and because familiarity breeds contempt, fewer games will result in less animosity between the clubs.

Additionally, the Cardinals currently lack a leaguewide "villain" in the vein of Yadier Molina who can crawl under other teams' and fanbases' skin, and St. Louis' longtime reputation of being a team worth disliking thanks to clubhouse veterans enforcing uptight, "no fun allowed" baseball is also being thrown by the wayside, as the Cardinals entered 2026 as the third-youngest team in the major leagues.

The Cardinals and Cubs are now directing their fury elsewhere

The Cubs may carry the label as the Cardinals' primary foe, but in recent seasons, it's appeared that Cardinals games against the Milwaukee Brewers and the Cincinnati Reds have involved more flare-ups than those against the baby bears. The 2010 Cardinals-Reds fracas involving Molina and Brandon Phillips led to years of bad blood between the two squads, with fans at Busch Stadium mercilessly booing Phillips anytime he returned, and those in Cincinnati harbored the same vitriol toward Molina.

The Cardinals and Brewers have also shared some beef. In 2011, Brewers outfielder Nyjer Morgan made himself into a reviled presence in the Gateway City, and much more recently, Brewers reliever Abner Uribe executed a "double crotch chop" against the Cardinals and proceeded to call the team and manager Oli Marmol out after the game.

However, that doesn't mean the Cardinals are sitting down to a tea party with the Cubs, as the two teams have still exchanged their share of dust-ups over the past few seasons. Perhaps the most notable of these came in 2023 and involved Miles Mikolas seeming to intentionally plunk the Cubs' Ian Happ with a pitch after Happ had hit Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras with his backswing in the first inning.

Nevertheless, Cubs fans appear more interested in engaging in intra-city squabbles, as Hoerner alluded to in his comment about Cubs and White Sox fan hostilities. As a resident of Missouri, I am less familiar with how the rivalry between Chicago teams plays out from a team supporter perspective, but I spoke with a Chicago-area resident online who said the Cubs and White Sox fanbases' disdain for each other was "100% more intense" than that of the Cubs and Cardinals.

"When I went to the White Sox vs. Tigers game in late April, every Cub fan wearing gear at the park was harassed and accosted," he said. "It really roots down to the Sox being the forgotten franchise of Chicago."

Rivalry Weekend isn't doing the Cardinals any favors, either, as the annual series pits the two Chicago teams against each other while leaving the Cardinals to oppose their own "little brother" across the state in the Kansas City Royals. Arranging Rivalry Weekend based on geographical proximity for most teams makes sense, but it's not helping to reinvigorate what were once among the most iconic and heavily anticipated bouts on Cardinals and Cubs fans' calendars.

Hoerner's quips might strike a nerve with Cardinals fans who experienced the teams' deep-seated resentment of each other in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but for this era of young ballplayers who may not have witnessed the squads' mutual scorn toward one another, the current matchups between the Cardinals and Cubs likely provide the sensation of manufactured drama rather than genuine contempt.

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