The St. Louis Cardinals went 86-76 in 2008, a .531 winning percentage — 12th of 30 record in baseball. They scored 779 runs and allowed 725, a run differential of +54. The offence ranked 12th of 30 in MLB for runs scored, while their 4.15 staff ERA was 13th of 30. Their 109 team wRC+ was 9% above league average — the third best in MLB. Albert Pujols led the position players at 8.0 WAR, and Kyle Lohse the rotation at a 3.78 ERA.
The 2008 season
Month by month, the streaks, and the record in the games that are argued about.
They finished 4th in the NL Central, 11.5 games back. They spent 25 of 183 days in first place, led by as many as 2.5 games on May 5 and were as far as 15.5 games back on September 22. Their best month was March/April at 18-11, their worst Sept/Oct at 12-13. The longest runs were a 6-game winning streak from September 23 to September 28 and a 7-game losing streak from September 10 to September 17. They were 46-35 at home and 40-41 on the road, 24-28 in one-run games and 43-44 against clubs that finished .500 or better. The most lopsided win was 18-3 against the Braves on August 22; the heaviest defeat, 20-2 against the Phillies on June 13.
Record by month. March games count toward April, October’s toward September.
Month
W
L
Pct
RS
RA
Diff
March/April
18
11
.621
135
104
+31
May
15
13
.536
124
135
-11
June
15
12
.556
136
122
+14
July
13
14
.481
136
142
-6
August
13
13
.500
128
108
+20
Sept/Oct
12
13
.480
120
114
+6
Splits. Extra innings are blank for a season whose games predate the innings count.
Games
W-L
Pct
Home
46-35
.568
Road
40-41
.494
One-run games
24-28
.462
Extra innings
6-12
.333
Within the division
36-41
.468
Against .500+ clubs
43-44
.494
Decided by 5+ runs
26-19
.578
Last 10
7-3
.700
National League Central standings, 2008
Final standings. The division page has the rest of its season.
National League Central, 2008. 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
42,385
42,581
35,356
46,865
Night
54
42,007
42,139
35,356
46,450
Day
27
43,140
43,462
36,262
46,865
Weekend
39
43,877
44,214
37,191
46,865
Weekday
42
41,000
41,110
35,356
45,996
On the road
81
32,342
33,954
9,544
55,372
Through the season
Average home crowd by month.
Month
Games
Average
Apr
18
40,274
May
14
42,867
Jun
9
43,866
Jul
14
43,461
Aug
13
42,221
Sep
13
42,769
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, 2008.
Regulation
2:48
144 games
All games
2:54
Extra innings
3:39
18 of them
Longest
3:43
2008-05-17, 10 inn
Shortest
2:05
2008-05-29
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
2:54
2:49
2:05
5:09
Regulation
144
2:48
2:47
2:05
3:35
Extra innings
18
3:39
3:31
3:08
5:09
Home
81
2:51
2:48
2:05
3:43
Road
81
2:56
2:51
2:13
5:09
Day
53
3:00
2:54
2:11
4:28
Night
109
2:51
2:47
2:05
5:09
Through the season
Average completed game by month.
Month
Games
Average
Apr
18
2:50
May
14
2:56
Jun
9
2:45
Jul
14
2:52
Aug
13
2:55
Sep
13
2:48
By season
Regulation games only, in minutes. 168 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 86-76, a .531 win rate, while their +54 run differential implies .533. That is essentially in line — the record reflects the run scoring.
