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Jim Sankey: Extra Innings: Bucs clinch milestone, take season series from Cardinals

Jim Sankey, Allied News, Grove City, Pa.
·4 min read

Aug. 29—Imagine that the Pirates drop all three games this weekend in St. Louis.

It doesn't matter; win or lose, the Pirates have already clinched the rarest of rarities: The Bucs have won the season series from the Redbirds. With three games left to play, the Bucs have a 7-3 edge over their long-time nemesis. Not even the Pirates can mess up a four-game lead with three to play. Since 2000, the Pirates have beaten the Cardinals in the season series only three times — 2008 (10-7), 2012 (8-7) and 2013 (10-9).

So it might surprise you that in the 2,481 games the Pirates and Cardinals have played since the 1892 season, the Bucs have won 51.1 percent of the games — going 1,267-1,214, which includes a 2-3 mark in the 2013 National League Division Series.

The longest all-time Pittsburgh winning streak against St. Louis is 16 games, which stretched from June 25, 2008, through April 27, 2009. (And before your attempt at humor, let me say this: No, I didn't see any of those games.)

The Bucs gained a big lead by winning the season matchups in 21 of the first 23 campaigns, with St. Louis' best efforts being season ties in 1894 and 1899. In their first 30 seasons, St. Louis enjoyed just five winning campaigns.

But you might say the Cardinals have made up for lost time.

Since the Cardinals appeared in their first World Series in 1926, they have reached the Series 19 times, and their 11 world championships are second only to the New York Yankees' 27 titles.

Since the Pirates' most recent World Series appearance in 1979, the Cardinals have appeared in seven world championships, winning three.

Since 1979, the Cardinals have played in 37 postseason playoff series; the Pirates in seven.

The Cardinals last losing season was in 2007; the Pirates played 20 consecutive years below .500 from 1993-2012.

The Cardinals have never lost 100 games, while the Pirates are struggling to avoid their ninth 100-plus loss seasons since 1952, including what would be their third in a row. And only a shortened 2020 season probably prevented them extending it to four, although their .317 winning percentage indicates otherwise, with Pittsburgh (19-41) being the only MLB team not to win 20 of the 60 games.

The Cardinals have finished ahead of the Pirates every year since 1999, including 2015, when the Pirates won 98, but the Cards won 100.

Sportswriter Alex Crisafulli says St. Louis's 23-year "reign of terror over Pittsburgh" is the longest current streak in baseball, and perhaps in all four major sports. To emphasize that length of dominance, Crisafulli reminds that Albert Pujols had not hit the first of his 703 career home runs nor had the New England Patriots won the first of their six Super Bowl trophies.

Since 1918, the Cardinals have finished in last place exactly one time, in 1990, and are the only major-league team not to end a season in the cellar since then.

The last time that the Pirates finished in last place was in 2022 (tied)...and 2021... 2020...and 2019. That's four in four years for Pittsburgh, one for St. Louis in 104 years.

Of course, the column could go on with similar stats showing the success of the St. Louis Cardinals against the Pirates and the, well, non-successes of the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Cardinals.

But you get the idea.

You also should get my shake-your-head reaction to a recent post by a Cardinals fan, writing about his distraught over the "total failure," "unacceptable play," and complete waste of a season" by the 2023 Cardinals. The guy's not getting a whole lot of sympathy coming from Pirates fans.

But the 2023 Pirates have the opportunity to add another ignominious label on the Cardinals.

The Pirates could — stressing the word — finish ahead of the current last-place Cardinals in the final standings this year. If that happens, it would make the second time since 1918 (1990) that St. Louis finishes in last place.

While there's not much satisfaction to gained in boasting, "Hey, we finished next to last, while the Cards finished last," Pirates fans are used to grabbing every small positive morsel we can.

Perhaps we can even try sound not too condescending and placating as we utter, "Poor, poor Cardinals."

JIM SANKEY is the Pittsburgh Pirates columnist for Allied News. His work appears every week during the baseball season.

JIM SANKEY is the Pittsburgh Pirates columnist for Allied News. His work appears every week during the baseball season.