The Nooner #1: Good Enough For You?

NOTE: This is the first installment in what will probably become a fairly regular feature. I get 30-60 minutes for my lunchbreak and usually spend that time eating at my desk while I read news and sports websites. I know I’m not the only one that does this. So why not indulge a quickie on my blog instead of surfing aimlessly? Welcome to The Nooner!

I posted the following on Cards Talk, a high-traffic forum on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website. The original poster asked if a 2nd place finish without a Wild Card berth would be good enough for Cardinals fans. My reply didn’t get much of a response so I decided to lift it and bring it here:

<I don’t think anyone really believes 2nd place is “good enough,” but that term in and of itself is relative. Within the past 5 seasons, we’ve seen a 100-win team win the pennant, a 105-win team lose the NLCS, an 83-win team win the World Series, and an 86-win team finish in 4th place. Now…just take those regular season win totals and forget the end of year results, then rank them from most successful to least successful.

The bottom line is, every team has to play 162. The best team doesn’t always come out on top. Personally I’d much rather see an above average team win the World Series than an excellent team get swept in the first round. And I think a young team that puts forth 100% every day but comes up a little short would be much more entertaining than a team full of high-priced prima donna free agents who fall flat on their faces (read: 2008 Detroit Tigers). It is always better to earn second place than to buy last place.>

Agree? Disagree? Thoughts?