The two most successful teams in the National League over the previous six seasons have yielded the stage, offering October to others.
Neither the Cardinals nor the San Francisco Giants will appear in the championship series for the first time since 2009. The two storied clubs have combined for the last five NL pennants, won more than 65 postseason games, and have taken two starkly different routes to such success. The Cardinals have been baseball’s constant, appearing in five consecutive postseasons, while the Giants have been baseball’s forget-me-nots with their biennial bloom. Although they have appeared in two fewer postseasons than the Cardinals, the Giants have three World Series championships since 2010, two more than the Cardinals.