The St. Louis Cardinals went 83-78 in 2006, a .516 winning percentage — 13th of 30 record in baseball. They scored 781 runs and allowed 762, a run differential of +19. The offence ranked 14th of 30 in MLB for runs scored, while their 4.55 staff ERA was 15th of 30. Their 101 team wRC+ was 1% above league average — 13th of 30 in MLB. Albert Pujols led the position players at 6.8 WAR, and Chris Carpenter the rotation at a 3.09 ERA.
The 2006 season
Month by month, the streaks, and the record in the games that are argued about.
They finished first in the NL Central, 1.5 games clear. They spent 147 of 182 days in first place, led by as many as 7 games on September 17 and were as far as 3 games back on May 4. Their best month was March/April at 17-8, their worst June at 9-16. The longest runs were a 7-game winning streak from July 7 to July 16 and an 8-game losing streak from June 20 to June 27. They were 49-31 at home and 34-47 on the road, 22-27 in one-run games and 21-26 against clubs that finished .500 or better. The most lopsided win was 13-1 at the Reds on August 7; the heaviest defeat, 20-6 at the White Sox on June 20.
Record by month. March games count toward April, October’s toward September.
Month
W
L
Pct
RS
RA
Diff
March/April
17
8
.680
125
93
+32
May
17
11
.607
142
120
+22
June
9
16
.360
120
157
-37
July
15
11
.577
125
124
+1
August
13
15
.464
137
141
-4
Sept/Oct
12
17
.414
132
127
+5
Splits. Extra innings are blank for a season whose games predate the innings count.
Games
W-L
Pct
Home
49-31
.613
Road
34-47
.420
One-run games
22-27
.449
Extra innings
5-6
.455
Within the division
39-42
.481
Against .500+ clubs
21-26
.447
Decided by 5+ runs
30-23
.566
Last 10
3-7
.300
2006 postseason
In October the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Padres 3-1 in the NLDS, beat the Mets 4-3 in the NLCS, then beat the Tigers 4-1 in the World Series. They won the 2006 World Series.
NLDS vs Padres3-1 W
Game 1, October 3 W 5-1 at Padres
Game 2, October 5 W 2-0 at Padres
Game 3, October 7 L 1-3 vs Padres
Game 4, October 8 W 6-2 vs Padres
NLCS vs Mets4-3 W
Game 1, October 12 L 0-2 at Mets
Game 2, October 13 W 9-6 at Mets
Game 3, October 14 W 5-0 vs Mets
Game 4, October 15 L 5-12 vs Mets
Game 5, October 17 W 4-2 vs Mets
Game 6, October 18 L 2-4 at Mets
Game 7, October 19 W 3-1 at Mets
World Series vs Tigers4-1 W
Game 1, October 21 W 7-2 at Tigers
Game 2, October 22 L 1-3 at Tigers
Game 3, October 24 W 5-0 vs Tigers
Game 4, October 26 W 5-4 vs Tigers
Game 5, October 27 W 4-2 vs Tigers
National League Central standings, 2006
Final standings. The division page has the rest of its season.
National League Central, 2006. 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
80
42,589
42,333
38,728
46,068
Night
52
42,573
42,530
38,809
46,004
Day
28
42,618
42,071
38,728
46,068
Weekend
38
43,413
43,716
39,383
46,068
Weekday
42
41,843
41,298
38,728
45,509
On the road
81
34,016
37,897
13,057
50,438
Through the season
Average home crowd by month.
Month
Games
Average
Apr
16
40,283
May
12
41,357
Jun
13
45,093
Jul
9
45,036
Aug
15
42,883
Sep
14
41,957
Oct
1
44,133
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 161 completed games, 2006.
Regulation
2:46
150 games
All games
2:51
Extra innings
3:50
11 of them
Longest
5:04
2006-06-02, 14 inn
Shortest
1:54
2006-09-01
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
161
2:51
2:49
1:54
5:04
Regulation
150
2:46
2:48
1:54
3:35
Extra innings
11
3:50
3:42
3:09
5:04
Home
80
2:52
2:48
1:54
5:04
Road
81
2:49
2:51
1:54
3:53
Day
56
2:49
2:52
2:10
3:42
Night
105
2:51
2:48
1:54
5:04
Through the season
Average completed game by month.
Month
Games
Average
Apr
16
2:42
May
12
2:50
Jun
13
3:02
Jul
9
3:07
Aug
15
2:53
Sep
14
2:47
Oct
1
2:23
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 83-78, a .516 win rate, while their +19 run differential implies .511. That is essentially in line — the record reflects the run scoring.
