Thursday, March 29, 2018

St. Louis' 10 Greatest Teams

The Mets start the season at home today, against the St. Louis Cardinals.

St. Louis' 10 Greatest Teams

Honorable Mention to the 1944 Browns. While the 1922 team was more talented, it didn't quite win the American League Pennant. This was the only Pennant won by this version of the Browns.

Honorable Mention to the 1928-31 St. Louis Stars, winners of 3 Negro League Pennants in 4 years.

Honorable Mention to the 1974-75 Cardinals, NFL version. Back-to-back NFC Eastern Division titles. They also won the Division in 1982. And, from 1963 to 1970, 8 seasons of 14 games each, they won at least 8 games 5 times and 9 games 3 times. But they never won a Playoff game between their 1960 move from Chicago to St. Louis and their 1987 move to Arizona.

Honorable Mention to the 1972 St. Louis Stars, winners of the Southern Division of the original North American Soccer League, but lost the title to the New York Cosmos.

10. 1968-70 Blues. 3 seasons, 2 NHL Western Division regular-season titles, 3 NHL Western Division Championships -- but got swept in all 3 Stanley Cup Finals. They added an NHL Semifinal appearance in 1972. The Blues also reached the NHL Campbell Conference Finals in 1986, and the NHL Western Conference Finals in 2001 and 2016.

9. 1885-88 Browns, the team that became the Cardinals in 1900. 4 straight American Association Pennants, but won only 1 postseason series with the National League Champions.

8. 2000-06 Cardinals. 7 seasons, 6 NL Central titles, 5 NLCS berths, 2 Pennants and 1 World Championship.

7. 1982-87 Cardinals. 6 seasons, 3 Pennants, but only 1 World Championship, losing each of the other World Series in 7 games.

6. 1999-2004 Rams. 6 seasons, 3 NFC Western Division titles, 2 NFC Championships, won Super Bowl XXXIV, St. Louis' only NFL Championship.

5. 1957-61 Hawks. 5 seasons, 5 straight NBA Western Division regular-season Championships, 4 NBA Western Division playoff Championships, but only 1 NBA Championship, in 1958. They would be the only team to beat the Boston Celtics in an NBA Finals until the 1985 Los Angeles Lakers. They moved to Atlanta in 1968.

4. 2011-15 Cardinals. 5 seasons, 3 NL Central titles, 4 NLCS berths, 3 Pennants, 2 World Championships.

3. 1964-68 Cardinals. 5 seasons, 3 Pennants, 2 World Championships, 1 win away from 3.

2. 1926-34 Cardinals. 9 seasons, 5 Pennants, 3 World Championships.

1. 1942-46 Cardinals. 5 seasons, 4 Pennants (the 1 they didn't win, 1945, Stan Musial spent the entire season in the U.S. Navy), 3 World Championships.

UPDATE: The Blues won the 2019 Stanley Cup. This is, so far, a one-time achievement, so they wouldn't rank very high on this list.

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