If the season ended today, the St. Louis Cardinals would fall short of a playoff berth. This failure could be epic, it could be historic, and it could be something we never witness again.
However, the failure to make the playoffs might not be the only thing that happens to the Cardinals, they could have a Triple Crown winner, MVP, Rookie of the Year, and Cy Young Award winner on their team. No other team has ever had a collection of talent like that during one season. Albert Pujols, Adam Wainwright, and Jaime Garcia could very well become the first.
Imagine for a moment how epic of a failure this could be?
One could argue this would be the greatest triumph in baseball history.
Pujols would have the greatest season in baseball history since some guy named McGwire broke Roger Maris’s home run record—and missed the playoffs, I might add. Pujols would win the first Triple Crown in over 40 years and would jump into second place all time with four MVP wins. This type of season is all you can ask of your best player, it is a dream for a marketing department, and he’ll be sitting on the couch eating Cheetos in October.
Adam Wainwright would win his first Cy Young Award. Jaime Garcia would win the Rookie of the Year in a season that produced perhaps the best batch of baseball players in a generation.
Despite all of the success, the Cardinals will lose the division to the Cincinnati Reds and fail to manage even a Wild Card berth.
Snapping back to reality, there is still a lot of baseball left to be played. The Cardinals could still make the playoffs, and even if they do not, it is doubtful that baseball writers would give all of these awards to a team that does not make the playoffs. And of course, Joey Votto, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Jason Heyward will ultimately have something to say about this.
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