St. Louis Cardinals' division dopplegangers

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.