Who should Cardinal fans be rooting for in the MLB postseason?

When October rolls around, baseball gets serious. The leaves change, and so does temperament. Relaxed greens turn to a desperate orange, but for the fourth straight go-around, the only Redbirds you’ll find are whistling through the local park, left off the biggest stage. 

That leaves Cardinals fans in a predicament that nobody wants to familiarize themselves with. When your team is left off the playoff hayride, you’ve got to find a substitute to keep the good times rolling. 

In 2026, it’s not all that simple. 

Who should Cardinals fans be rooting for in the 2026 postseason? 

Going down the list, team by team, it quickly becomes a tall task to fill the shoes of St. Louis’ finest. There aren’t many good options. (Especially now that the Cubs' hate watch was mercilessly ended Friar-style). 

It can’t be the Dodgers and their death star in the LA skyline. No baseball fanbase outside Chavez Ravine is pulling for the boys in blue. 

Shohei Ohtani and his generational shadow of teammates have won the last two World Series and are looking to be the first team to three-peat since the New York Yankees (1998-2000).

What’s the fun in that? Who wants to watch the same story play out again and again? Cardinals fans are out on LA. Even more so after they stole fan favorites Tommy Edman and Katie Woo (both made similar impacts on the team). 

The only club worse than LA: the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cardinals must respect their brewing battle-contestants, but respect doesn’t equate to effervescence. 

The Brewers have sipped the fine ale of the NL Central four years in a row. First it was Craig Counsell’s club, swiping the Cardinals’ crown. Now, it’s the grizzled Pat Murphy brigade and their knack for the big moment. The Redbirds have seen enough of the Brewers for one year. 

The best thing about the Braves to a Cardinals fan is new announcer Chip Caray. And memories of better times in postseason wins. Yadier Molina’s bloop single tipping off the outstretched glove of gentle giant Freddie Freeman–bliss.  

The Braves aren’t necessarily a direct rival, but they do leave Cardinals fans reminiscing about better times. When you see fans doing the “chop on,” all you can think of is Mike Foltynewicz and the drama he caused on a packed Truist Park. From a standpoint of melancholic longing, chop out. 

Not too long ago, the Padres did something to the Cardinals that was painted on a baseball canvas. In the 2020 NL Wild Card game, Fernando Tatis Jr. came to bat with two outs, a runner on first, and a slim one-run lead over the visiting Cardinals. 

After working a 3-2 count against Redbird reliever Daniel Ponce De Leon, Tatis Jr., who’d already homered in the contest, leaned on an outer-half fastball and sent it into the right field stands. 

As soon as he hit it, he started walking. The only thing in a hurry to escape that moment was the baseball, and when Tatis Jr.’s bat landed, the game was out of reach. Cardinals fans reflect sourly, as they should. 

To knock a few others off, it can’t be the Yankees, and who’s throwing Cleveland a bone? The Cardinals only trail the Yankees in all-time World Series wins. That’s a record they hope to catch, so no bueno to the Bronx. 

As for Guard-ball, put your money where your mouth is. The Guardians function as a justification for the historically low payrolls in The Lou. It’s hard to root for the rich, but playing poor isn’t much better.

That leaves two teams. 

The former home of year-one POBO Chaim Bloom, in Tampa Bay, and the South Siders. 

The Rays do a lot of things well. They build from within, they make savvy trades, and they’re deceptively good in the free agent market. Sound like anyone you remember? 

If that’s your pick, then so be it. 

An alternative: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Earlier this season, Cubs’ second baseman Nico Hoerner said he felt the White Sox were a harsher rival to the Cubbies than the Redbirds. 

Those are strong words from the shifty infielder, although the Sox have backed up his accusations. 

Cross-town rivalries rarely live in the in-between. It’s an all-or-nothing gambit. In this instance, the White Sox despise the Cubs. 

A huge brawl broke out in a game between the two teams at Wrigley Field this year. Furthermore, an altercation between star Cub Pete Crow-Armstrong and a fan in center field on the South Side had media gaffing the projected MVPete. 

The White Sox are riding a rare kind of momentum–almost like a certain Cardinals team in 2006 that snuck in and went on a rampage. 

Munetaka Murakami is delivering all of baseball with timeless interviews. Chase Meidroth is pimping baseballs as a contact-oriented hitter, and injured reliever Mike Vasil is projecting wizardry onto his teammates with a wand, a Mickey Mouse magic hat, and enough energy to play Pat McAfee on SNL. 

Not to mention they were blessed by the Pope, who’s a famous White Sox fan himself. 

If they’re good enough for the Pope, they’re good enough for the retired Redbirds. And unfortunately, those leaves keep changing, and the Cardinals still haven’t. 

In another flightless October, find solace in a fellow Cub-crusher riding playful, careless, yet refined and explosive play, hopefully to a deep run. Let’s go South Side! 

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