9/23 GDT: Cardinals(Liberatore) @ Pirates(Bachar) 5:40 PM CT

[Famous Mortimer]

Never really understood the "we're spoiled as a fanbase" thing. Should we want the Cardinals to win less?

[jagtrader]

Never really understood the "we're spoiled as a fanbase" thing. Should we want the Cardinals to win less?

More nonsense to prop up owners who don’t give a [expletive] about the fans or the loyalty they’ve shown.

[jagtrader]

The Cardinals have surpassed 91 wins once in the last 11 years. Meanwhile, half the league isn’t even trying. How long do they get to live off 2000-15? This has been a franchise in decline for a decade.

[Popeye_Card]

Never really understood the "we're spoiled as a fanbase" thing. Should we want the Cardinals to win less?

I don't think it has anything to do with what we want. More just recognizing how fortunate we have been.

But if you want to understand it, strike up a conversation with a Pirates fan about how upset you are as a Cardinal fan because they haven't been winning enough. You may get the same dirty look that a teenage girl gets when she complains about having to drive a used 2023 BMW to school.

[heyzeus]

Never really understood the "we're spoiled as a fanbase" thing. Should we want the Cardinals to win less?

How hard is it to understand? Look up the last time the Cardinals lost 100 games or had back to back losing seasons.

Our standards are high. They should be! But Imagine having one WS trophy in the last 118 years. Imagine having none at all.

[jagtrader]

The Pirates didn't draw 3 million fans with some of the highest TV ratings in the league for a quarter century.

[jagtrader]

The Cardinals are where they are because ownership thought John Mozeliak’s feelings were more important than the success of the franchise.

[Popeye_Card]

Never really understood the "we're spoiled as a fanbase" thing. Should we want the Cardinals to win less?

More nonsense to prop up owners who don’t give a [expletive] about the fans or the loyalty they’ve shown.

I'm fully aware the owners (and the vast majority of players for that matter) don't give a [expletive] about me. And they haven't received a dime of my money for probably a decade now.

I can still recognize that despite how poorly ran the Cardinals have been for years, they've also been fortunate. I follow the Blues much closer than I have the Cardinals for a while now - they generally suffer from the opposite problem under Stillman's ownership (generally well ran, poor luck).

[heyzeus]

The Cardinals are where they are because ownership thought John Mozeliak’s feelings were more important than the success of the franchise.

That's true - the extra year of farewell tour for Mozeliak was a joke. It just delayed that hard but necessary gut rehab by a year.

The other half of "where the Cardinals are" is ownership cutting costs in the years leading up to the 2026 rebuild - both in the major league payroll and in coaching/development in the minors. Ownership did what failing businesses do; business declines, cut costs, which causes further declines, so they cut costs further. It's the classic knee-jerk death spiral. Dewitt III went to the press to whine that if fans don't show up more, he'll cut costs further. Boy, that really endears your pricey entertainment product to the customers!

Anyway, they did step 1 right this year. Step 2 involves actually spending money to augment what the farm system can provide. Will they do it? Am I hoping for Charlie Brown to finally get to kick the football? Tune in to find out. Maybe in 2028, of course, because [expletive] the owners.

[Popeye_Card]

And the first back-to-back losing seasons since '94-'95. Would be only the second occurrence since 1960.

Wow.

1. We are spoiled, as a fanbase.
2. It's now been a long time in the sucktastic wilderness.

Feels like we lost this year by not trying though.

I think we did try this year.

To lose, that is. Still sort-of a testament to how spoiled we are as a fanbase. Even in a year where we stripped it down as far as we could stand, still only a few games under .500. I fully braced myself for losing 100 this year.

yeah I mean they said they were going to see what they had; but halfway through; they saw what they had and they were close enough that they could have tried to improve the team; but they continued to tear it down by trading anything of value they could if the asking price was met.

I get that it was a so called building year but they could have been in the race with a little pitching help.

I think they made the right call. As fun as watching the Cardinals in the playoffs may be, this still wasn't going to be a contender. Since they aren't going to be at the top of the draft, I don't mind them nabbing some decent prospects for once to keep stocking up.