The Cubs have had a captivating history. Granted, the story is often like a Shakespearean tragedy. But each time they pop up with a great season, it gets ingrained into Cubs lore and the hearts and minds of their fans in a way that few other franchises in the sport can claim.
This season has been no different, and new chapters of the Cubs story are being written before our eyes. The Cubs are taking on the St. Louis Cardinals, their bitter rivals from the south, in the playoffs for the first time ever. The Cardinals, winners of game one over Jon Lester and a successful juggernaut these last two decades, have plenty of history as well. But as the two teams write their first chapters of intertwined playoff games, I am reminded that they’ve played meaningful games before.
Until the development of the Wild Card in 1995 allowed more than one team in a division to make the playoffs, it wasn’t even possible for the Cubs and Cardinals to match up in a playoff series. The Cubs have had just a small share of winning seasons since then—albeit well short of the record the Redbirds can boast. The two teams have had several seasons where head-to-head regular season matchups had implications for the playoffs or, at the very least, provided memorable moments.
After scouring the internet for help remembering those games, and coming up with information on the ones I am simply not old enough to know about, I came up with the top games in the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry (going as far back as 1984, which is the furthest back any of us will be able to remember the Cubs making the playoffs). So here they are, in the order of how important I feel each game was, considering the playoff implications attached to them.
August 29th, 2014: Cubs 7, Cardinals 2
The Cubs weren’t going to the playoffs in 2014, but this game is memorable and has important ramifications for the current playoff series going on between the two teams. This, you may remember, was the day that Jorge Soler “arrived” at the big league level. Soler crushed two monster home runs, the first to dead-center, tying the game at 2-2, and the second an inning later—that one may or may not have made a dent on the Arch.
Javier Baez also had a two-run single in that game to break the 2-2 tie, and Kyle Hendricks threw six quality innings, only allowing two Cardinals runs. This game is the moment that Cardinals fans realized what was happening with the Cubs. While the Cardinals were battling for the division lead against the Pirates and Brewers in 2014, the Cubs were merely riding out the string while calling up rookies. But there was a noticeable hush from the crowd upon seeing the second homer by Soler, as if the fans at Busch Stadium were unsure what was going on. Who are these Cubs? This game was the very beginning of what is now going on between the Cubs and Cardinals in the NLDS.
June 4th, 1989: Cubs 11, Cardinals 3
I was alive for this game, but I’d be lying if I told you I had the ability to remember it (I was only three at the time). For a much better description of the action, Alan Solomon had an editorial in the Chicago Tribune that covers the game fairly well.
Tempers came to a boil when Mark Grace charged the mound against former-Cub Frank DiPino, after what Grace interpreted as a pitch that was thrown a little to far inside. Gracie, a 25-year-old kid then who you could somewhat compare to Anthony Rizzo (minus some power), ended up hurting his shoulder in the scuffle. He would be fine, in the end, and had a tremendous season, batting .314/.405/.457 in the regular season and .647/.682/1.118 in 22 plate appearances in the NLCS against the San Francisco Giants. The Cubs lost that series, 4-1, but it was an important year in Cubs history and those around then will remember this game vividly.
September 20th, 2008: Cubs 5, Cardinals 1
This one is simple: the Cubs clinched the division on a Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field against the Cards. Even better, the final out was caught by Jim Edmonds, then playing for the Cubs. The Cardinals had a decent season that year as well, going 86-76 and finishing four games behind the Brewers for the Wild Card. This qualifies as the most recent great moment in a contending year for the Cubs, prior to taking on the Cardinals this week.
Unfortunately, the 97-64 Cubs were swept out of the playoffs in the NLDS by the 84-78 Los Angeles Dodgers, who won a weak NL West division behind Manny Ramirez, who was acquired late in the season from Theo Epstein’s Boston Red Sox.
September 24th, 2011: Cardinals 2, Cubs 1
As far as a regular season game having an effect on the playoffs goes, this game takes the cake. The Cardinals came into this matchup with the Cubs three games behind the Atlanta Braves in the Wild Card chase, but with only five games left in the season. Essentially, the Cardinals would be practically eliminated from contention by a Braves win and a loss to the Cubs.
The Braves failed to do their part, losing 4-1 to the Washington Nationals that day. But the Cubs took an early 1-0 lead on the Cards on that late September day in St. Louis, and had their closer on the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning with a chance to push the Cardinal’s playoff hopes further away. Had the Cubs held on, that would’ve meant the Cards were still three behind the Braves with just four games to go.
But Carlos Marmol had one of those patented meltdowns that he became known for, late in his Cubs career. After getting out Lance Berkman to lead off the inning, he gave up a single to Matt Holliday. A pinch-runner moved Holliday to second base, but Marmol managed to strike out David Freese to get the second out. With the game on the line, Marmol then walked Yadier Molina on a 3-2 pitch. That brought up Skip Schumaker, who also walked to load bases. Then came Ryan Theriot, who walked in the tying run. Finally, on an 0-1 count to Rafael Furcal, Marmol sent one to the backstop that brought in the winning run.
The Cardinals went on to nudge the Braves out of the final playoff spot by a single game, and would eventually win the 2011 World Series over the Texas Rangers.
July 19th, 2004: Cardinals 5, Cubs 4
In a game that might best exemplify the relationship between the Cubs and Cardinals the last few decades, Carlos Zambrano faced off against the Cardinals’ ace Chris Carpenter at Wrigley Field. The game was tied at three going in to the eighth inning, but then Scott Rolen drilled a two-run homer into the left field bleachers to give the Cards a 5-3 lead. The next pitch from Zambrano went right into Jim Edmonds’s ribs, clearly intentionally.
Zambrano was upset because Edmonds had hit a homer earlier in the game and then had posed to watch the ball afterwards. This was the second time he hit Edmonds following the homer, and this one got him run from the game. Memorably, Zambrano was walking off the mound and toward the dugout as the umpire ejected him, as if he knew exactly what was coming. The Cubs lost the game 5-4 and lost their Wild Card lead in the final week of the season, losing their playoff spot to the Astros while the Cardinals won the division.
September 8th, 1998: Cardinals 6, Cubs 3
Most remember the 1998 season for the home run race between Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire and the Cubs’ Sammy Sosa. In what was a fitting moment, the record-tying homer by McGwire came against the Cubs in St. Louis. But the Cubs were also in contention for the Wild Card, with the Cardinals several games behind them in third place in the NL Central.
Sosa famously ran in from right field to congratulate McGwire, in a show of sportsmanship and appreciation for the feat. Sosa would hit his 61st and 62nd against the Brewers to briefly tie McGwire at the top of list for homeruns hit in a single season. The Cardinals’ first baseman finished with 70 and Sosa with 66, but the Cubs won 90 games and Sosa earned the National League MVP. Nearly twenty years later, 1998 still stands out to many as an amazing season in baseball history, and the Cubs and Cardinals were a huge part of that.
September 1-4, 2003: Cubs win four of five over Cardinals
The Cards went to Chicago to play the Cubs five times to start September in 2003, due to a rainout makeup double-header being scheduled into a four game series. The Cards had been to the playoffs in three straight years at that point, and were one game ahead of the Astros and 2 1/2 up on the Cubs at the start of the series. Here’s a quick rundown of that series,with box scores linked:
9/1/2003: The Cubs hang a six spot on Woody Williams in the fifth inning, and win 7-0.
9/2/2003: In Game One of the double-header, Sammy Sosa hit a walkoff two-run homer off Jeff Fassero in the bottom of the 15th inning of the Cubs’ 4-2 win.
9/2/2003: In Game Two, Matt Morris out-duels Kerry Wood in a 2-0 Cardinals win.
9/3/2003: The Cardinals take a 7-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning, but homers by Moises Alou and Alex Gonzalez lift the Cubs to an 8-7 win.
9/4/2003: Pinch-hitter Tony Womack hits an RBI single to score Alou, giving the Cubs a 7-6 victory.
The Cubs would end up winning the division, finishing three games ahead of the Cardinals.
June 23rd, 1984: Cubs 12, Cardinals 11
The game that truly sets the standard for big Cubs and Cardinals games. The Cubs came into the game 3 1/2 ahead of the Cardinals, and just 1 1/2 back of the Mets for the division lead. Willie McGee hit for the cycle and helped the Cardinals to a 9-8 lead. Former Cub Bruce Sutter came in to nail down the save and knock a game off the Cubs’ lead in the standings, but his first pitch to Ryne Sandberg in the ninth inning was drilled out of the park for a game-tying homer.
After the Cards bounced back to score two in the top of the 10th and take an 11-9 lead, Sutter came back out to attempt to close out the game again in the bottom half. He got the first two out before walking Bobby Dernier ahead of Sandberg. Ryno then crushed his second homer of the game, and second off Sutter, into the bleachers to tie the ballgame, which the Cubs won in the bottom of the 11th.
After moments like these, it’s hard to imagine things getting more intense for the Cubs and Cardinals. But we’re just getting started, even if it’s hard to look past the Cardinals having just taken the 1-0 lead. These playoff games will be remembered well on both sides of I-80 regardless of which team wins.
Lead photo courtesy Scott Rovak—USA Today Sports.