ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals are still in the hunt for a playoff spot. Who knows what’ll happen between now and the final out of the season, but a sports analytics site crunched the numbers and came up with a good guess.
The Cards probably won’t win the division. They might make it into the postseason. Their chances of winning the World Series? Forget about it.
At least that’s all according to opinion poll and statistical analyst blog FiveThirtyEight.
As of the most recent MLB game, the Redbirds have a 34 percent chance of making the playoffs.
The odds St. Louis wins the World Series: 1 percent.
So, you’re saying there’s a chance?
RELATED: Cards chasing a postseason berth
Let’s not forget that 2006 team, which entered the postseason as the underdog of underdogs with a record of 83-79—one of the worst records ever for an MLB playoff team. As of Tuesday evening, the Cards are 87-71 on the season.
However, this Cardinals team is taking fans on a rollercoaster ride to end the season. In the past week, they’ve gone from sweeping the Giants to losing two straight against the Brewers—two crucial games the Cardinals could’ve used to help secure a Wild Card spot.
As of the most recent MLB game, the Houston Astros have the best chance at winning the World Series at 24 percent. The Boston Red Sox are right behind them at 23 percent.
Here’s what FiveThirtyEight wrote about how it came up with the predictions:
“How this works: Elo ratings are a measure of team strength based on head-to-head results, margin of victory and quality of opponent. We’re using an Elo-based system that also accounts for starting pitchers, travel distance and rest, with an average team rating of about 1500. This forecast is based on 100,000 simulations of the season and updates after each game.”
Do you think this Cardinals team has what it takes to win it all?