St. Louis Cardinals' division dopplegangers

NL West - Los Angeles Dodgers or San Francisco Giants

The NL West is home to the Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and San Francisco Giants. Some of these teams are expansion teams, while others are teams that were moved west. The NL West has been a division of champions as of late.

In category one, we see a couple of very close teams to the Cardinals in the Dodgers and the Giants. I have included a chart below with more specific information, so you can see how close these three teams truly are.

All three teams are monuments in the National League, no doubt about that. A total of seventy-one World Series Appearances between these three franchises is a staggering total. However, in the category that matters the most, World Series Titles, the San Francisco Giants barely edge out the Dodgers as the closest team to the Cardinals. This awards them the prize for the first category.

In the second category, we see the same two teams at the top: the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers are closer in win percentage (.531 to .536 compared to the Cardinals’ .520); similarly, the Dodgers and Cardinals are a mere 100 wins away from each other. Their loss totals are also nearly identical. The Hall of Famer count complicates things slightly more, as the Dodgers have fifty-two, the Giants have fifty-seven, and the Cardinals have fifty. The Dodgers are closer to the Cardinals in the franchise statistics category.

The final category is organizational information. Attendance counts are relatively unfair to use for this division, as Los Angeles is a massive city, thus skewing the numbers. As far as management and signings, it also gets slightly complicated. The markets in these two cities are significantly larger than that of the St. Louis area. A team out of the NL West that is most similar as far as market size goes would be the Padres; however, the Padres have shown a penchant for spending these last five years or so (Manny Machado, Zander Bogaerts, Yu Darvish, etc.).

The Diamondbacks and Rockies have taken an approach similar to the Marlins and Nationals lately in which they dump off older players at the end of their arbitration for younger pieces. Despite the massive differences in market size, the Dodgers and Cardinals have a healthy mix of free agents, pre-arb players, arbitration players, pre-arb extension players, and other extension candidates. The third category is a toss-up.

AL East - Boston Red Sox???

The AL East is home to some of the oldest teams in baseball history. The Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, and Toronto Blue Jays all call this division home.

Category one isn’t really close. The Yankees are a historic franchise that is unmatched in its regular season and postseason success. They own a whopping twenty-seven World Series Championships. The Boston Red Sox, however, have a much more manageable nine championships. Their pennant and division titles along with their playoff appearance count are also much closer to those of the Cardinals. The Red Sox ran away with category one.

Category two became a bit more challenging. The Yankees have an absurd .569 winning percentage compared to the Red Sox’s .518; keep in mind the Cardinals have a franchise win percentage of .520. The other three teams are all below .500. However, the Yankees are much closer in total wins, sitting around 10,600. The Red Sox have yet to reach ten thousand wins. Furthermore, the Yankees have forty-seven Hall of Famers, the Red Sox have thirty-eight, and the Cardinals have fifty-two. The category for franchise success goes to the Yankees.

Category three was also slightly obfuscating. While the Yankees are much closer than any other teams in the AL East in average attendance rates, their payroll is significantly higher. The Toronto Blue Jays have the closest payroll to the Cardinals in recent years. Also, the Blue Jays have a healthy mix of arbitration, pre-arb, arbitration extensions, and free agents that are similar to the Cardinals. Category three goes to the Toronto Blue Jays. I would argue, however, that the Boston Red Sox have a fan base that is as supportive, focused, and dedicated to the team as the Cardinals fans are.

AL Central - Cleveland Guardians, barely

We have reached the middle of the country. The American League East, despite its recent mediocrity, does have some teams with decently strong histories. The Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, and Minnesota Twins all play in the AL Central. 

This division was actually one of the toughest. It wasn’t the toughest because a couple of teams were very close to the Cardinals, quite the opposite, actually; virtually none of the AL Central teams measure up to the success of the St. Louis Cardinals. For the first category, franchise success, only the Detroit Tigers are close in World Series appearances and titles (eleven and four, respectively). This alone makes the Tigers the winners of category one.

Category two was slightly more clear than category one for this particular division. The Cleveland Guardians have a franchise win percentage of .512, putting them the closest to the .520 that the Cardinals hold. Also, the Guardians edge out the Tigers, White Sox, and Twins for franchise victories. The Guardians have a total of thirty-five Hall of Famers, seven more than any other team in the division. The Guardians take category two.

Category three presented some problems; the White Sox have a similar payroll and roster construction (arbitration, pre-arb, extensions, and free agents) compared to the other teams. The Guardians are notorious for trading away players before they become too expensive, although they have shown an interest in signing players to extensions recently (Amed Rosario, for example). The Royals and Tigers have had poor organizational decisions in the recent past. The Twins present an interesting case. Their market size should allow them to spend money and garner a more talented team, but they haven’t done that in recent years.

All five teams have attendance counts at least 10,000 people fewer than the Cardinals, making this point moot. Kansas City and Cleveland’s markets are most comparable to St. Louis’s market. Taking all of these factors into account, the Cleveland Guardians narrowly take category three.

AL West - Oakland Athletics, surprisingly (to me, at least)

The Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, and Texas Rangers all play in the American League West. This division has seen a lot of turnover in the last five years. Some of the league’s most talented players play in the AL West currently. Historically, one team has seen great success in this division.

The final division to discuss would be the AL West. Ironically, the Oakland Athletics are dripping with history. Their twenty-five division titles, twenty-seven playoff appearances, nine World Series titles, and fourteen World Series appearances make them the closest team to the Cardinals, and a team almost identical to the Cardinals in terms of franchise success (contrary to recent experiences). Oakland is also the oldest franchise in this division. Congratulations, Oakland, you have finally won something recently.

The Houston Astros are the only franchise with a winning percentage over .500 (.501, barely). Had the Athletics not been so miserable these last two years, they would probably be significantly closer to the Cardinals. Oakland, however, does have more than 9,000 wins, putting them the closest to the Cardinals in this statistic. Also, Oakland has forty-one Hall of Famers; the Angels are the next closest at twelve Hall of Famers. Oakland takes category two handily.

Category three refers to organizational culture. Oakland has taken a "Moneyball" approach in the last 20 years: spend as little as possible while squeezing out as much talent as possible. Recently, the Oakland management has taken it upon themselves to trade away any playable player, put players who aren’t ready in uncomfortable roles, and take as many losses as possible with the hopes of moving the team. This hasn’t always been the case for the organization, however. The Coliseum has housed some of the most talented, memorable, and skilled teams in MLB history. The early 2000s and 1930s sported historic teams. This team’s history is lost in many people’s memories. Houston’s recent success has boosted its attendance statistics. Houston also had loads of success as a former NL Central team in the early 2000s. They also field a strong mix of homegrown players and free agents. The Astros do a fine job putting a strong team together. Houston and Oakland tie for category three.

Some of these teams were very surprising to me while others were relatively expected. Throughout baseball, patterns expose themselves. Teams see other successful teams and try their best to imitate that success. It doesn’t always work, however. While few teams can mirror the exact history of the Cardinals, some teams do come close.