Remember when we were kids playing cup ball in the city park, catch with your father in the backyard, or the amazing whiffle ball games in the city street? How many of those times did you come out on top? Whether it was a night with your friends under the street lights and you parked that plastic white ball over your neighbors shrubs, or if it was being that Little League hero striking out the side to win the championship game. We have all been there a time or two. Do you remember the pleasant feeling you had in that moment?
The St. Louis Cardinals are 7.5 games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds and are getting very close to clinching their third straight division title. They are closing in on that moment. That feeling of a champion. But the game is not over yet.
These Cardinals know what it feels like to be close. But they have not grasped what they really want since 1982 when they defeated the Milwaukee Brewers for the World series crown. We all remember the last time they made it to the World Series. It ended in a clean sweep for the Boston Red Sox in 2004. But the Cardinals are trying to build on that loss and remind themselves what the taste of victory is like.
Are the Cardinals the best representation for the NL? Can they beat teams like the Mets, Dodgers, or Padres? Are they ready to look past the years miscomings and build on their third straight division crown? In 2006, we may be looking at a team starving for that moment when they were the hero in the neighborhood. Its time to shift that taste of victory to a present feeling of achievement.