Major honours
The National League's most decorated club — and one that reached that perch without a mega-market. Eleven World Series titles rank second only to the Yankees in MLB; all nineteen NL pennants led to World Series berths. Rogers Hornsby's first title in 1926, the Gashouse Gang of the 1930s, Stan Musial's 3,630 hits across twenty-two seasons, Bob Gibson's 1.12 ERA in 1968, and titles in 2006 and 2011 kept the franchise on top in every era. Population ranks St. Louis near the bottom of MLB markets, yet a regional fan base across Missouri and neighbouring states still drew roughly 2.9 million home fans in 2024, and red-clad road crowds remain a league fixture. The player-development culture known as the Cardinal Way is routinely cited as a front-office textbook.
Record comparison
Bars are scaled to the strongest team in this list.
Club legends
Rivalry
The clash with the Chicago Cubs is nicknamed the I-55 Series after the interstate linking the cities. It is the oldest division rivalry in the National League, and the fact that the Cardinals won eleven titles while the Cubs waited 108 years defines the emotional register.