Interesting Lab Study

[Fat Strat]

I chose option B, and I know that I feel that way based on my experience with the Cards and the Cheifs. The Cheifs haven't sniffed a Super Bowl in my lifetime, yet, year in and year out they are very competitive, with dozens of playoff appearances, All-Star players, HOF'ers, etc. going through the organization.

I love the hope that you have each year that maybe this is the year they can put it all together. I don't really expect it to happen, but I love knowing that each year there's a chance. I love the ups and downs of a season, where they get oh so close, and then fail.

I would take that over the alternative of all or nothing with any sports team in any sports league.

Luckily, the Cards are a better organization than the Chiefs...

[TimeForGuinness]

To be honest, it doesn't matter if either happen. I like watching baseball...even bad baseball. I've followed baseball my whole life, and it doesn't matter what team is playing or how good they are...I still get excited to go to the ballpark.

[Radbird]

I don't think it is an all or nothing question, at least for the Cardinals.
We've had several years of being competitive, and won the series once. You can kinda have it both ways, you don't have to be the Marlins.

Well said, Leroy.

Option A is the Marlins. Option B is the Braves (yes, I know they won in '95). There should be an Option C (annually competitive with an occasional win). And that's the Cards.

I don't see much difference between the Braves and Cardinals. Not enough to create a option C.

Point taken. But since the Braves have won the WS, perhaps they are another example of Option C. And let's say Option B is the Astros. Or Padres.

The only example of Option A that comes to mind are the Marlins.

[fulldeck]

I picked A because I always want my team to win. That said, I don't like watching bad Cardinals baseball. I can handle bad baseball in general, but bad Cardinals baseball drives me nuts. (i.e. - fundamentals, situational hitting, defense, etc.)

I want my team to be competitive every year and give themselves a chance to win. So in my eyes they need to win enough to get to the playoffs each year and go from there.

[EastonBlues22]

Let me preface this by saying I'm a diehard Blues fan. They have missed the playoffs a grand total of five times in team history, and made the playoffs a record 25 straight years...with zero Cups to show for it (nor really any playoffs where they were even close to winning it).

It doesn't matter how successful your team is year after year if they always suck in the second season. Flopping horribly every postseason has a way of tainting (or even eradicating completely) that regular season "glow" after awhile. It's a morale killer for everyone (players/fans/ownership), and it's almost impossible to maintain a continuous healthy winning atmosphere in the face of that sort of postseason adversity. Heck, organizations are regularly gutted completely (often from the top down) after extended strings of postseason adversity like that.

Just having good regular seasons and "getting there" isn't enough...you need to win every once in awhile.

[PHILLYCARD]

At some point for me getting there (playoffs) just isnt enough. Second place is the first loser. Dont get me wrong, I will enjoy Cardinal baseball no matter what, but I think getting to the playoffs year after year just doesnt cut it. My cousins who are Phillies fans would kill me about that every year. "Who cares if you get there, you gotta win it" You get sick of hearing things like that. You need a championship and thats why I would take a few bad seasons to get one.

[jim]

To be honest, it doesn't matter if either happen. I like watching baseball...even bad baseball. I've followed baseball my whole life, and it doesn't matter what team is playing or how good they are...I still get excited to go to the ballpark.

I'm a child of the 70's, I grew up on bad baseball. I definitely agree with this post.

Not so sure about the Bill James causing this - I can see the point but to me if anything has caused it it's the playoff format. 30 years ago you had a to have a dream season to get to October, 15 years ago you almost always (one or two exceptions) had to have a good season to get to October. Now, every year there seems to be a team just a tick above average getting to October, creating the whole question in my opinion.

[skmsw]

To be honest, it doesn't matter if either happen. I like watching baseball...even bad baseball. I've followed baseball my whole life, and it doesn't matter what team is playing or how good they are...I still get excited to go to the ballpark.

I'm a child of the 70's, I grew up on bad baseball. I definitely agree with this post.

This is a lot like how I feel too.

I grew up as a Cards fan living among all Yankees and Red Sox fans, knowing that this MIGHT be the year . . . but probably wouldn't. The pursuit was a lot more important than the finish line. I think that that comfort with baseball for its own sake is why as a kid I embraced the idea that the presence of a championship made things better, but lack of a championship did not make them worse.

[GatewaySnayke]

Instead of fiddling around with topics like this you should be updating that blog. It's Larry's day off at VEB and I've got nothing to read.

[lukethedrifter]

I'd rather see good baseball than be a Marlins fan.