The St. Louis Cardinals went 100-62 in 2005, a .617 winning percentage — the best record in baseball. They scored 805 runs and allowed 634, a run differential of +171. The offence ranked 6th of 30 in MLB for runs scored, while their 3.49 staff ERA was the best. Their 102 team wRC+ was 2% above league average — 8th of 30 in MLB. Albert Pujols led the position players at 7.4 WAR, and Chris Carpenter the rotation at a 2.83 ERA.
The 2005 season
Month by month, the streaks, and the record in the games that are argued about.
They finished first in the NL Central, 11 games clear. They spent 171 of 181 days in first place, led by as many as 16 games on September 13 and were as far as 2 games back on April 10. Their best month was March/April at 15-7, their worst Sept/Oct at 15-13. The longest runs were a 6-game winning streak from April 21 to April 27 and a 3-game losing streak from May 5 to May 7. They were 50-31 at home and 50-31 on the road, 21-25 in one-run games and 47-30 against clubs that finished .500 or better. The most lopsided win was 11-1 at the Pirates on April 18; the heaviest defeat, 10-0 at the Pirates on August 23.
Record by month. March games count toward April, October’s toward September.
Month
W
L
Pct
RS
RA
Diff
March/April
15
7
.682
105
82
+23
May
18
11
.621
157
126
+31
June
16
11
.593
146
112
+34
July
17
9
.654
124
86
+38
August
19
11
.633
145
114
+31
Sept/Oct
15
13
.536
128
114
+14
Splits. Extra innings are blank for a season whose games predate the innings count.
Games
W-L
Pct
Home
50-31
.617
Road
50-31
.617
One-run games
21-25
.457
Extra innings
5-3
.625
Within the division
51-29
.637
Against .500+ clubs
47-30
.610
Decided by 5+ runs
31-13
.705
Last 10
5-5
.500
2005 postseason
In October the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Padres 3-0 in the NLDS, then lost the NLCS to the Astros 4-2.
NLDS vs Padres3-0 W
Game 1, October 4 W 8-5 vs Padres
Game 2, October 6 W 6-2 vs Padres
Game 3, October 8 W 7-4 at Padres
NLCS vs Astros2-4 L
Game 1, October 12 W 5-3 vs Astros
Game 2, October 13 L 1-4 vs Astros
Game 3, October 15 L 3-4 at Astros
Game 4, October 16 L 1-2 at Astros
Game 5, October 17 W 5-4 at Astros
Game 6, October 19 L 1-5 vs Astros
National League Central standings, 2005
Final standings. The division page has the rest of its season.
National League Central, 2005. Games back of the best record in the division.
The players whose season belongs to this club, by position and then by dbWAR. A player traded mid-season is listed with the club he played most of his games for, so a deadline arrival may appear on his other club’s page instead.
Each rectangle is a player, sized by his share of the team's hits; darker means a larger share. Top 30 contributors. Select a different statistic above, or click a player for his page.
Day and night divide the home schedule, and so do weekend and weekday. The road line is a different question.
Split
Games
Avg
Med
Low
High
All home
81
43,732
45,616
26,026
50,434
Night
51
43,224
44,201
28,787
50,270
Day
30
44,595
46,282
26,026
50,434
Weekend
39
46,817
47,714
37,971
50,434
Weekday
42
40,867
41,617
26,026
50,270
On the road
81
30,612
31,566
11,220
53,783
Through the season
Average home crowd by month.
Month
Games
Average
Apr
13
38,284
May
14
41,096
Jun
13
46,362
Jul
13
46,111
Aug
13
45,085
Sep
13
44,699
Oct
2
49,961
By season
Announced gate — tickets distributed, which is the figure every reference publishes and is not the same as people through the turnstile. A game the feed reports no gate for is left out rather than counted as empty. Seasons before attendance was carried into the lake are absent from the trend rather than shown as zero.
Game time
First pitch to final out across 162 completed games, 2005.
Regulation
2:46
154 games
All games
2:48
Extra innings
3:33
8 of them
Longest
4:23
2005-07-15, 13 inn
Shortest
1:59
2005-07-17
By situation
Regulation and extra innings divide the season, and so do home and road. Day and night overlap both.
Split
Games
Avg
Med
Fastest
Longest
All
162
2:48
2:45
1:59
4:23
Regulation
154
2:46
2:44
1:59
3:35
Extra innings
8
3:33
3:40
2:42
4:23
Home
81
2:51
2:48
1:59
4:23
Road
81
2:46
2:44
1:59
4:04
Day
59
2:48
2:47
1:59
4:04
Night
103
2:48
2:44
2:09
4:23
Through the season
Average completed game by month.
Month
Games
Average
Apr
13
2:55
May
14
2:54
Jun
13
2:47
Jul
13
2:55
Aug
13
2:47
Sep
13
2:46
Oct
2
2:54
By season
Regulation games only, in minutes. 166 minutes this season.
Elapsed time from first pitch to final out. The feed does not itemise delays, so a rain delay is inside these numbers with no way to subtract it. Games called early are excluded — five innings in ninety-three minutes is not a short game — but they still count in attendance, because the crowd turned up.
Record versus run differential
St. Louis Cardinals are 100-62, a .617 win rate, while their +171 run differential implies .608. That is essentially in line — the record reflects the run scoring.
