St. Louis Cardinals Seasons

St. Louis Cardinals Seasons

The St. Louis Cardinals have completed 127 seasons of professional baseball since they began play in 1882. The Cardinals were founded in 1882 as the St. Louis Brown Stockings and a member of the American Association, the name was shortened to Browns the next season. The team moved to the National League in 1892 when the American Association folded. The club changed its name to the Perfectos for one season in 1899 and adopted the Cardinals name in 1900. The St. Louis Cardinals are tied with the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates as the third oldest continuously operated baseball team. In that time the team has won 18 National League pennants and 11 World Series Championships (most in the National League and second only to the New York Yankees who have won 27). They also won 4 American Association pennants and 1 Pre-World Series Championship that Major League Baseball does not consider official.

The Cardinals have enjoyed six periods of continued success during their history. The first period occurred during the 1880s when the team won four consecutive American Association pennants from 1885–1888 while known as the Browns. The Cardinals next enjoyed success from 1926–1934 when they played in five World Series, winning three. During World War II the Cardinals won four NL pennants in five years from 1942–1946, including three World Series championships. During the 1960s the Cardinals won two World Series and played in another. In the 1980s the Cardinals played in three World Series, winning in 1982. Most recently, the Cardinals have made the playoffs nine times, winning seven NL Central titles and qualifying twice as a wild-card entrant from 2000–2011, winning the World Series in 2006 and 2011.

The only extended period of failure the Cardinals have experienced began when they joined the National League in 1892. The Cardinals played only five winning seasons in thirty years while finishing last seven times from their entrance to the NL until 1921. However, the Cardinals have remarkably avoided such failure since then as they have not finished in last place in the National League since 1918, by far the longest streak in the NL. The Cardinals did fail to reach the World Series in the 1950s, 1970s, and 1990s, but were regularly a competitive team in each of these decades.

For complete team history, see History of the St. Louis Cardinals