Photography by Rachael Powell
This week, we've all read roughly 2,384 articles about how the Cardinals and Cubs have never played in the postseason—until tonight! But in fact, the teams have matched up twice before, playing two 19th century World Series. But first, some more recent history:
As Cardinals fans know well, for more than a century, the "rivalry" between the Cardinals and Cubs has been like the "rivalry" between a hulking schoolyard bully and a scrawny dork with glasses, or like the "rivalry" between a cat and a mouse. The Cardinals have won the World Series 11 times since the last time the Cubs won, way back in 1908. But this year's Cubs are like the grade-school dweeb who spends the summer before freshman year lifting weights, then corners the bully after school for a little payback. After decades of regular-season clashes, we'll finally get to see the Cardinals and Cubs play postseason baseball, when the air is crisp and the rally towels are spinning, when you can see your breath in the air and feel the electricity on your skin. It's like the World Series came early. There's a reason that, last we checked, standing-room-only tickets were selling for well over $100. Certainly, whether this were the first playoff meeting between these teams or the 50th, this series would be receiving a monumental amount of hype.
Let's break down the (supposed) fact that the teams have never played in the postseason. It's easy to believe. Before 1969, the pennant in each league went to the team with the best regular-season record. The only playoffs were the World Series. Because the Cubs and Cardinals both played in the National League, they could not possibly play each other in the postseason. In '69, the NL was broken into two divisions and the winners met in the NLCS. But because the Cardinals and Cubs were placed in the same division, they were still ineligible to meet in the playoffs. So it's been since only 1995, when the Wild Card was instituted, that it was even possible for the Cardinals and Cubs to meet in the postseason.
That said, it's at least somewhat improbable that they've been able to avoid each other over the past two decades. Since 2000, the Cardinals have missed the playoffs just four times. And three of those four years just happen to be the only times the Cubs had made it to the postseason.
So it is both true—and remarkable—that the Cardinals and Cubs have played 2,363 regular season games in their modern histories without ever meeting once in the playoffs, until tonight. But these two franchises have met before, both times in the World Series. The teams were just using different names.
You see, before the Cardinals became the Cardinals in 1900, they were the Perfectos, and before that, they were the Browns. (Not to be confused with the totally separate St. Louis Browns baseball team that left to become the Baltimore Orioles in 1954.) And before the Cubs became the Cubs, they were the Orphans, and before that, the Colts, and before that, the White Stockings. (Not to be confused with the totally separate Chicago White Sox baseball team that currently occupies the city's South Side.)
And in both 1885 and 1886, the St. Louis Browns (later Cardinals) and Chicago White Stockings (later Cubs) met in the World Series. The championship series in 1885 was among the most bizarre ever played. It went the full seven games, but ended in a disputed tie. In Game 1, the two teams had each scored five runs when the game was called in the eighth inning because of darkness. In Game 2, the Browns were winning 5–4 when St. Louis manager (and later founder of the other Chicago White Sox) Charles Comiskey pulled his team off the field to protest a call by the umpire. Though St. Louis was winning, the game was forfeited to Chicago. St. Louis then won games three, four, and seven, while Chicago won games five and six. With the tie in Game 1 and the forfeit in Game 2, each team ended the series with a record of 3-3-1. But St. Louis claimed victory anyway, arguing that the forfeit didn't count.
The next year, the Browns won the American Association, the Cubs won the National League, and the two teams met again in a premodern World Series. This time, no one could dispute that St. Louis was the champion. Led by Tip O'Neill, who hit .400 with two home runs, and Bob Caruthers, who started three of the six games and went 2-1 with a 2.42 earned run average, St. Louis won the series, four games to two.
Local baseball boosters are hoping for a similar result, 129 years later.
