ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Blues have built a reputation as consistent contenders for much of the 21st century, but where do they stand among powerhouses?
Perhaps not right now, but at certain points in time and under certain scenarios, St. Louis fans might make a case for the Cardinals and Blues being the best teams in both of their leagues. In all of sports, that would be an entire new level worth debating.
Barstool Sports recently released “power rankings” for all 124 teams across the major four sports leagues. That includes the National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League and Major League Baseball. The rankings come on behalf of Jake Marsh from Barstool’s “Pardon My Take” podcast.
The rankings, released on Oct. 26, might appear a bit ambiguous. However, Barstool says the rankings are based on where the franchises stand right now, adding that recent winning seasons and championships help the teams toward the top.
Here is where the Cardinals and Blues ranked at the time of release:
No. 29: St. Louis Blues (7th among NHL teams)No. 53: St. Louis Cardinals (12th among MLB teams)
There’s always going to be mixed opinions, but it’s noteworthy that the Cardinals and Blues both finished within the strongest half of teams.
Many could argue the Blues’ spot is little generous based on the team’s recent six-game losing slide. That said, the Blues have made playoffs in 10 of the last 11 seasons and have the 2019 Stanley Cup championship working in their favor for recency. Vladimir Tarasenko is also starting off strong (9 points in 9 games) after a career-year in the scoring department last season.
The Cardinals’ ranking seems realistic based on recent seasons, though would probably be a sleeper if the rankings were based on overall history. The Cardinals have made postseason in four consecutive seasons, though have only won one playoff game in their last ten tries. While the Cardinals are more than a decade removed from their last World Series (2011), the last season was very memorable for the last runs of Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina.
Things could be worse, right? Two of the Cardinals and Blues’ biggest rivals, the Chicago Cubs and Chicago Blackhawks, finished 76th and 121st out of 124 possible teams.
The Golden State Warriors were named the No. 1 team in the rankings. The Sacramento Kings finished last.
Barstool’s rankings have sparked some serious discussions among sports fans and even led to some heated online debates between Facebook and Twitter. After sharing the rankings, Marsh tweeted he wanted to start a new series called “Ranking Random Things That Will Cause People To Get Mad.”
Will the Cardinals and Blues hold true or exceed their current rankings? Only time will tell.