The St. Louis Cardinals went 91-71 in 2009, a .562 winning percentage — 7th of 30 record in baseball. They scored 730 runs and allowed 640, a run differential of +90. The offence ranked 18th of 30 in MLB for runs scored, while their 3.61 staff ERA was 4th of 30. Their 97 team wRC+ was 3% below league average — 19th of 30 in MLB. Albert Pujols led the position players at 7.8 WAR, and Adam Wainwright the rotation at a 2.63 ERA.
The 2009 season
Month by month, the streaks, and the record in the games that are argued about.
They finished first in the NL Central, 7.5 games clear. They spent 135 of 184 days in first place, led by as many as 11.5 games on September 4 and were as far as 3 games back on May 18. Their best month was August at 20-6, their worst June at 12-17. The longest runs were a 5-game winning streak from April 9 to April 13 and a 5-game losing streak from June 5 to June 9. They were 46-35 at home and 45-36 on the road, 24-21 in one-run games and 28-32 against clubs that finished .500 or better. The most lopsided win was 13-0 at the Reds on October 1; the heaviest defeat, 11-0 at the Mets on June 24.
Record by month. March games count toward April, October’s toward September.
Month
W
L
Pct
RS
RA
Diff
March/April
16
7
.696
133
96
+37
May
13
14
.481
95
99
-4
June
12
17
.414
118
144
-26
July
16
11
.593
124
96
+28
August
20
6
.769
116
79
+37
Sept/Oct
14
16
.467
144
126
+18
Splits. Extra innings are blank for a season whose games predate the innings count.
Games
W-L
Pct
Home
46-35
.568
Road
45-36
.556
One-run games
24-21
.533
Extra innings
5-6
.455
Within the division
46-34
.575
Against .500+ clubs
28-32
.467
Decided by 5+ runs
29-20
.592
Last 10
2-8
.200
2009 postseason
In October the St. Louis Cardinals lost the NLDS to the Dodgers 3-0.
NLDS vs Dodgers0-3 L
Game 1, October 7 L 3-5 at Dodgers
Game 2, October 8 L 2-3 at Dodgers
Game 3, October 10 L 1-5 vs Dodgers
National League Central standings, 2009
Final standings. The division page has the rest of its season.
National League Central, 2009. 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
41,275
41,759
35,206
46,707
Night
53
40,797
40,512
35,206
45,959
Day
28
42,179
43,003
35,293
46,707
Weekend
38
43,314
43,849
36,310
46,707
Weekday
43
39,473
40,105
35,206
45,832
On the road
81
31,815
35,360
10,494
54,847
Through the season
Average home crowd by month.
Month
Games
Average
Apr
13
39,674
May
13
41,169
Jun
16
40,021
Jul
10
42,151
Aug
14
41,758
Sep
12
42,838
Oct
3
43,924
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, 2009.
Regulation
2:45
150 games
All games
2:49
Extra innings
3:35
11 of them
Longest
4:53
2009-07-29, 15 inn
Shortest
2:05
2009-05-19
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
2:49
2:46
1:58
4:53
Regulation
150
2:45
2:44
1:58
3:35
Extra innings
11
3:35
3:28
2:26
4:53
Home
81
2:49
2:49
2:05
4:53
Road
80
2:49
2:45
1:58
4:23
Day
58
2:51
2:47
2:07
4:23
Night
103
2:47
2:45
1:58
4:53
Through the season
Average completed game by month.
Month
Games
Average
Apr
13
2:45
May
13
2:38
Jun
16
2:42
Jul
10
3:03
Aug
14
2:44
Sep
12
2:55
Oct
3
3:31
By season
Regulation games only, in minutes. 165 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 91-71, a .562 win rate, while their +90 run differential implies .560. That is essentially in line — the record reflects the run scoring.
