Throughout baseball history, there have been a number of late season collapses, and should the Houston Astros (and/or the Cincinnati Reds) overtake the St. Louis Cardinals, this shouldn't rank among the game's worst.  

Now let me lay this right now before we go any further... Even though I am listening to the Astros finish off the Pittsburgh Pirates to move to within one game of the Cardinals, I still believe St Louis will finish the season as the National League Central Division Champions for 2006.

With that being said, I would be remiss in my duties here if I did not at least entertain the possibility that the Astros could overtake the current Central Division leaders in the last few days of the season.

Should the Cardinals implode in the season's final weekend, an argument can be made that it may, in fact, be the biggest season ending breakdown in baseball's illustrious history.

However, in my opinion, it falls well short of other memorable late season collapses.

Recollections of past implosions give us:

* A 1969 Chicago Cub squad, which relinquished a 9-1/2 game lead on August 13th to the New York "Miracle" Mets,

* A 1964 Cardinals team, which overcame a 6-1/2 game lead with two weeks left in the season to overtake Gene Mauch's Philadelphia Phillies, and

* The 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers, which surrendered a 13-1/2 game lead on August 11th to a New York Giants team, who then rode a 16-game win streak right in to a three game playoff to determine the league title. The Giants eventually capped that improbable late season surge with Bobby Thompson's "Shot Heard 'Round The World," sending the Giants to the World Series and the Dodgers back to Brooklyn.

But one thing distinguishes this Cardinals team from those other late season bunglers.

 Yes, there is one big difference between the 2006 Cardinals and the '69 Cubs, '64 Phillies, or the '51 Dodgers, and that difference is -- the Cardinals are bad.

Now, this revelation should come as a surprise to no one, least of all the best fan-base in baseball. If the Cardinals hold on to win the division, they will be the "Rocky 5" of pennant winners. As a Cardinal fan myself, I feel it is my right -- nay, my responsibility -- to point out this little fact.

In fact, I, along with several other members of the Cardinal Nation, have known this for awhile and have been waiting for our Titanic of a team to hit some unforeseen iceberg and begin to sink in the standings. However, like me, many Redbird fans we're hoping the team could at least hold on until the playoffs before self-destructing.

Over the last two months, I have spent many a night crouched in a corner of my apartment slowly swaying back and forth while I comforted myself with the chant "Anything can happen when we get to the playoffs, anything can happen when we get to the playoffs" in a true Dustin Hoffman "Rain Man" moment.

So what is the biggest difference between last seasons' team. which led all of baseball with 100 wins, and this years group?

In 2005, the Cardinals made it to the playoffs on the strength of a pitching staff that led the National League in team ERA, Wins and Complete Games, while finishing second in Runs Allowed, Saves and Shut Outs.

All five starting pitchers finished the year with at least 31 games started, and only two other pitchers were used to start a contest all season with Cal Eldred and the organizations top rookie Anthony Reyes each being used just once in that capacity.

In contrast, the 2006 Redbird pitching staff sits far from the front of the pack in each of these categories, with the most telling statistic being the difference in Runs Allowed.

This season's staff sits 12th among 16 teams in runs allowed with 5 games remaining.

The 2005 version began the season with a rotation consisting of Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder, Jeff Suppan, Jason Marquis and Sidney Ponson, with only Carp, Suppan and Marquis having surpassed the 30 start barrier thus far.

While Carpenter has continued to be the Ace of the staff, rating among the leagues Cy Young contenders, Suppan has been one of the more impressive pitchers in baseball since the All-Star break.

But, the real crux of the problem falls on the shoulders of the other three.

Ponson did not make it to the All-Star break before his bloated ERA was given the boot, while Marquis is sitting on a 5.80 ERA on the season, and Mark Mulder fought to keep his ERA under 8 before being placed on the DL, with what appears to be a case of "bad pitcher-it is."

On top of all of the pitching struggles, where would this team be without Albert Pujols' Major League leading 25 game winning RBI's (that's 15 more than Ryan Howard)?

This is a team that has endured two 8 game losing streaks, as well as the embarrassment of being swept by both the Chicago Cubs (twice!) and Pittsburgh Pirates at different points during the year.

 In addition, they were very nearly swept by the lowly Kansas City Royals during interleague play, managing to hold on to a ninth inning lead in game three of a June/July series.

All told, the Cardinals have been swept 11 times in 2006. In 2005 this team's longest losing streak was three games without being swept at any point during the regular season.   

This Cardinals team must win each of their remaining games, including a make-up for the rained out contest with the San Francisco Giants,  to finish the regular season with 86 wins. And, while a hot streak to close out the season is not impossible, it is unlikely.

In comparison, the '69 Cubs, '64 Phillies and the '51 Dodgers all won at least 92 games in their heart-break seasons. If the Cardinals had been on a 92-win pace, they would've locked up the divisional title last week and the Astros current hot streak would have them looking at an outside shot at the Wild Card only and there would be very little drama.

I'm not saying the Cardinals can't get hot and turn things around this last week of the season, but even if they do make the playoffs it will be a surprise to see them go far.

Then again, as I keep telling myself, "Anything can happen when we get to the playoffs, anything can happen when we get to the playoffs."