Longest playoff droughts in Cardinals' franchise history

With just 19 games to go, the St. Louis Cardinals find themselves outside of the playoff picture. Barring a miraculous finish to the season, this would be the second consecutive season without a postseason appearance for the storied franchise. It's not often an organization like the Cardinals misses the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, and while that may seem like a long time without watching baseball in October, it pales in comparison to previous spells.

For as bad as it may feel to not watch October baseball, two straight seasons without a playoff appearance isn't the longest stretch the organization has gone without making the playoffs. Since the turn of the century, Cardinal fans have been treated to postseason baseball multiple times.

Altogether, the Cardinals have made it to the playoffs 32 times since 1882, the franchise's inaugural season. They've won 23 pennants as an organization, and their 11 World Series titles rank behind only the New York Yankees. For decades, the Cardinals have found themselves in the thick of playoff baseball. It hasn't always been sunshine and rainbows for the Birds on the Bat, though.

What is the longest playoff drought in Cardinals history?

Dating back to 1882, the franchise has had three separate stretches where they failed to make the postseason at least 10 seasons in a row. The longest postseason drought in franchise history, however, lasted from 1889 through 1925, a total of 37 seasons. Postseason baseball was structured differently at this time, as only the top team in each league made it to the World Series. That left 14 teams on the outside looking in.

Major League Baseball expanded the postseason to two rounds in 1969, and this doubled the amount of teams playing in the postseason. Since 1969, the longest drought for the St. Louis Cardinals was 13 seasons from 1969-1981. Ironically, the Cardinals would win the World Series in 1982 coming out of that long stretch without a postseason appearance.

Hopefully, the past two seasons aren't a sign of things to come in regard to the postseason for the Cardinals. It's been tough as a fan to watch the team toil throughout the regular season and not have hometown baseball to watch in October. Hopefully, a strong offseason and the continued development of players will help the Redbirds make the playoffs in 2025.