The Cardinals win two series in a row. Should we be excited now?

After the awful start to the season, I think we are all looking for some signs of life.

It’s great to see the two Jordans, Hicks and Walker, playing great baseball. Nootbaar is back. Life is good again.

Hey, even Bernie Miklasz thinks it’s time for happy talk.

However, I think we need to look at some numbers before we start thinking about printing tickets for the playoffs. After all, just a few days ago Miranda Remaklus wrote about the 3 ways the St. Louis Cardinals keep breaking your heart.

Even with winning two series in a row, the record after 75 games is 31 and 44. Only Colorado and Washington have won fewer games in the National League.

While it’s exciting to win a series or two, it will take more than just series wins to make the playoffs this year. I have listed out the remaining series that the Cardinals have left on the schedule. I have also shown the number of wins the Cardinals will have if they win each series. I am assuming that all the 2 game series will be split.

WINS	GAMES	OPPONENT
1	2	Cubs
2	3	Astros
2	3	Yankees
3	4	Marlins
2	3	White Sox
2	3	Nationals
2	3	Marlins
3	4	Cubs
2	3	Diamond Backs
3	4	Cubs
2	3	Twins
2	3	Rockies
2	3	Rays
1	2	Royals
2	3	A's
3	4	Mets
2	3	Pirates
2	3	Phillies
2	3	Padres
2	3	Pirates
2	3	Braves
2	3	Reds
2	3	Orioles
2	3	Phillies
3	4	Brewers
2	3	Padres
2	3	Brewers
2	3	Reds
59	87	Remaining Opponents

The path toward the playoffs remains very difficult for the Cardinals

Winning each and every series for the rest of the year the Cardinals will win 59 of the 87 games left. So, we can still get to 90 wins for the year. This is the ballpark number that most cite as the number of wins it should take to win the Central Division.

One of the problems we have this year is that the competition is stronger than it has been in recent years. Both the Pirates and the Reds are having better years than we expected. Even the Cubs are only two games under 500.

I’m not sure it won’t take more than 90 wins to make the playoffs this year. If recent history is a benchmark then we will probably come up short. The total wins for the division winners for the last 5 years are almost out of reach. A wild card birth is at this point a slim possibility.

YEAR	DIV WINNER	MIN WILD CARD
2022	93	87
2021	95	90
2020	COVID	COVID
2019	91	89
2018	96	91
AVERAGE	94	89

I hope I am wrong because I really want to see playoff baseball in St. Louis. If we can sweep a few series we still have a chance.

I hate saying this before we get to the halfway point but it’s more likely that Miranda is correct and they will keep finding new ways to break our hearts.