Editor's note: This story originally ran Friday. It has been updated with developments through the weekend.
The fans evidently have given up on the Cardinals.
That stark assessment is based on the large swaths of empty seats prevalent in some games at Busch Stadium as well as their most recently announced local television ratings, which were on a pace for a record low in tabulations that go back 3½ decades.
The slowdown at the turnstiles finally is catching up to the slowdown on the field, as the team is hovering just above the .500 mark as this season winds down, following its first last-place finish in more than three decades.
The bold bottom line — the Cardinals are on the verge of extending their streak of consecutive seasons in which they have won only one postseason series to 10. Not one per year. One total in a decade.
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Some fans were encouraged by a brief recent uptick — the Cardinals entered their weekend series against Seattle by having won six of their last eight games. That has kept the diehards still dreaming of a miraculous run to make the playoffs, à la 2011.
But the team lost two of the three games in the series and oddsmakers, who were scoffing at their playoff chances late last week, are even more profound now with their numbers. DraftKings (Casino Queen in East ºüÀêÊÓƵ) was offering prices on several teams’ chances of making the postseason field and as of early Monday had the figures massively against the Cardinals.
And we mean MASSIVE! So much so that a bettor would have to risk $100 to try to make a puny 50-cents profit if wagering that the Cards will miss the playoffs. Conversely, the return on a $100 bet on them to sneak in would be $2,500 (25-1 odds).
One huge difference between 2011 and 2024 is that when the Cards went on their phenomenal spree in ’11 (when the playoffs consisted of the three division winners and one wild-card team from each league), they were chasing just one club — the Atlanta Braves — for that wild-card slot. No other team was between those two, and the Cards’ late-season charge combined with the Braves’ collapse sent the Redbirds to postseason.
But this year, three wild cards get in as well as the three division winners in each league andÌýthe Cards are all-but out of the running for the NL Central title. Although they enter Monday's schedule fewer games out of an NL wild-card spot (six) than they were beginning play on the comparable 2011 date (7½), there is a critical difference now. This time, they have to pass three teams to climb into the final wild-card slot. So not only do they have to go on a torrid pace, they need three teams to regress — two of them to significantly regress — with only 19 games remaining for each of those clubs.
Atlanta and the New York Mets began Monday tied for the final wild-card slot, at 78-65. The Chicago Cubs were at 73-70, followed by the Cardinals at 72-71.Ìý
So if the Braves or Mets would go a game under .500 the rest of the way and the other is even worse, the Cards would have to go 15-4 just to catch up and put tiebreakers into play. But the Cardinals also would have to leapfrog the Cubs.
Good luck with all of that.
Balzer’s bomb
Longtime ºüÀêÊÓƵ radio personality Howard Balzer, whose expertise is pro football, begins the NFL season without being booked on any local station for the first time in decades.
He appeared last year on several shows on KFNS (590 AM), but that outlet dropped local programming over the summer in a cost-cutting move. So that leaves Balzer’s “H-Bomb†NFL underdog picks without a station on which he can discuss them.
Balzer, who now lives in the Phoenix area and covers the Arizona Cardinals for the cardswire website, began bombing away in 1995 after a KFNS listener suggested he drop a “bomb†on a big favorite in the NFL.
“It was decided that the minimum spread would be 6½ points and that’s what it has been for almost 30 years on several different radio stations,†Balzer said, adding he is working to try to return to local radio “as quickly as possible.â€
So he is ready to set off his opening-week H-Bomb here. Balzer says:
“As happens sometimes, it’s a thin week with only two games eligible — Cincinnati, minus 8½ at home against New England, and Buffalo, minus 6½ at home against Arizona.
“So, it’s no surprise that living now in the desert, I will drop the bomb on the Bills — meaning I’m picking the Cardinals to cover and hopefully get a direct hit, which is an outright win.â€
Upcoming picks
We had a rough go with our selections last season but are back to swing away again. Picks can range from one unit to five.
Odds listed are the most favorable among the local walk-in sportsbooks as of Friday afternoon:
IOWA STATE AT IOWA, 2:30 p.m. Saturday: Iowa loves to play the dull, grind-it-out style, leading to the Hawkeyes finishing last season with nine consecutive games going under the total, and six of those had a total no higher than 34 points. Iowa State managed just 21 points in its opener last week against North Dakota, and Iowa is coming off a shutout of Illinois State.
Game total under 35½ points (Argosy casino in Alton)Ìý•â¶Ä¢â€¢
COWBOYS AT BROWNS, 3:25 p.m. Sunday: Dallas didn’t have holdout WR CeeDee Lamb throughout training camp, and now that he finally has a new deal he’s back but figures to not be up to speed yet. The Cowboys have other questions on offense, too, especially at running back, and face the stout Cleveland defense. The Browns’ offense also has questions, such as can QB Deshaun Watson regain his previous heights after an injury-hampered 2023 season in which he played in only six games?
Game total under 41 points (DraftKings, Argosy) •â¶Ä¢