October: The time has come for the weather to start cooling off and the trees to start changing colors. The shorts and sandals are moving to the back of the closet as the boots and flannels have started to pop up all over campus. The season of football, bonfires and haunted houses has come upon us, but before we fully enjoy this time that has been anticipated by many, we must first appreciate October for its true purpose: the Major League Baseball playoffs.
As a St. Louis Cardinals fan, I have been looking forward to the playoffs since this time last year after a loss to the World Series champions, the San Francisco Giants. I’ve been looking forward to this even more since opening day in early April when the new season began and professor Devin Swindle taught our New Testament class wearing a vintage Ozzie Smith jersey.
Since then our beloved Cardinals have played 162 games over a period of 180 days. The season definitely had its ups and downs through wins, losses, trades and injuries, but the Cardinals managed to finish with a record of 97-65: the best record in baseball, clinching the National League Central Division Title.
The time has come to determine a world champion and there are only eight teams remaining. It’s win or go home and each team is thirsty for a championship, each fan thinks it is their team’s year and each baseball enthusiast is looking forward to the competitive atmosphere and quality baseball.
Since I am a fan who is heavily biased toward St. Louis, I can’t help but think of the playoff magic the Cardinals have produced in the last few years. In 2011, the Cards came back from a 10.5 game deficit to earn a record worthy of clinching the National League Wild Card on the last day of the season.
As their late playoff berth commenced, a stray squirrel appeared on the field during a home game versus the Philadelphia Phillies and again during the very next game in Philadelphia. The Cards won both of these games, causing all of Cardinal nation to rally behind the battle cry “Rally Squirrel.” The Cards continued to rally and when we came one strike away from losing the world series, twice, David Freese found his inner rally squirrel and hit a walk off home run to force a game seven, which couldn’t be lost after the rolling momentum created by that single home run. This infamous home run and when we won our 11th World Series championship in 2011 made me, a high school senior, become as giddy as a little boy at his first game ever, screaming at the top of my lungs and high fiving everyone in sight.
This incredible accomplishment stirred up even more personal hype than when I was a 12-year-old watching the 2006 Cardinals win the World Series or even when my family and I gathered in our living room to watch Mark McGwire break the single season home run record in 1998. The tradition of supporting Cardinal baseball is something that has been passed down from my grandfather to me, and when we don’t have anything else to talk about, we can always talk about who’s pitching, who’s been hitting well or who needs to be traded.
So the time of year has come when Cardinals fans shamelessly support our boys attempting to make history, and whatever the outcome, I am proud to be a Cardinal.
