Yesterday, mere hours before the Cardinals rallied from a 5-0 deficit to pull off their 12th consecutive win, Tom Verducci had an interesting take.
Just before the game, Verducci, who was working alongside Scott Braun on the YouTube broadcast, drew a comparison between this current Cardinals team and the 2007 Colorado Rockies.
Of course, this is all because the Cards are red-hot, just as that Rockies team was. But was this an accurate assessment by Verducci? Are these Cardinals on the same path as the Rockies were?
To draw comparisons, we must first look at what the ‘07 Rockies accomplished.
The Rockies came out of nowhere that season. They were off to a horrible start before reaching the .500 mark in June. From then, they stayed right in the thick of the NL West race.
In mid-September, they were 76-72. They were in fourth place and sat 6 ½ games out of first.
But then they won 14 of 15 to reach the postseason, including a come from behind, walk-off win in a wild tiebreaker game for the then lone Wild Card spot in the NL; one in which Matt Holliday raced home to score the winning run on a sac fly, bloodying his chin and also sparking the age old debate over whether he actually touched home.
Colorado proceeded to sweep both the Phillies and D’Backs, the two best teams in the NL that season, to reach the World Series. But they were ultimately swept by the Red Sox in that Fall Classic.
The Cardinals were also struggling to stay in the race at various points this season. They were 37-41 towards the end of June. Even after getting back over the .500 mark, they were still struggling at the start of this month. A day after Labor Day, they dropped to just one game over .500 and were 3 ½ games out of the second Wild Card.
But since then, they’ve won 14 of their last 15 and now have full control of the final Wild Card spot. They now control their own destiny, and their magic number to clinch a postseason spot sits at six.
So, is Verducci’s comparison accurate? Possibly. There’s still a full postseason ahead of us, and we don’t know what will happen, but if the Redbirds stay hot, we may see a postseason run similar to that of the ‘07 Rockies or the ‘14 Royals.
Only time will tell.
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