St. Louis Blues Are The Trail Car In City’s Roller Coaster Ride

The St. Louis Blues are typically a very steady franchise in the grand scheme of things. However, though they are late to party, they are now heading downhill where the rest of the city has already been.

The St. Louis Blues have prided themselves on being a playoff team. For a good time, they had the longest active playoff streak in sports until the Detroit Red Wings passed them up.

Even in recent years, they have been steady and contending. It seemed like they were going to be the shining light in a period of darkness for the city of St. Louis. Now, it seems like they are just a little late in catching up to everything else.

By now, we are all familiar with the strife the city has had to go through lately. The city of St. Louis, itself, has plenty of problems to discuss, but when it comes to sports, there has been a lot to talk about.

Most notably, you had the St. Louis Rams relocate back to Los Angeles after the 2015 season. That was a punch to the gut in the first place, but then owner Stan Kroenke (a Missourian) kicked everyone in the groin afterward by blasting the city on the way out.

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While there were other things said, it was basically insinuated that St. Louis could not support multiple teams. So, that made it impossible for anyone but the St. Louis Cardinals to win since they were on top of the totem pole.

We can argue the validity of that point, but it was a low blow that was unnecessary when it was all but guaranteed the NFL would let the team move anyway. A classless act by a classless human being.

Then came the MLS debacle. While the city residents seem to have their cake and might be able to eat it too when it comes to a soccer stadium, the area still has to wait on the league to grant them a franchise.

Had the residents of the city itself voted yes on a tax increase at the time, St. Louis would already have a stadium built (or mostly built). Their franchise would be hiring staff and in the process of planning out their team structure.

Instead, everyone was still too hurt over the Rams’ dealings and the disingenuous way the NFL went about wasting St. Louis’ money on stadium proposals. So, they were in no mood to spend a penny of public funding even if it would have been good for the city in the long run.

The Cardinals began their own set of problems around the same time. Similarly to the Blues, the owners of the red birds still spent a good amount on the team and the general manager was not completely inactive. But, there was a growing unrest among the people. Star free agents were not signed and mistakes were made with contracts – sounds familiar, hmm? On top of all that, the Cardinals missed the playoffs and have not been back in three straight attempts.

The city had hit rock bottom, right? Well, the Blues were winning and challenging Mr. Kroenke’s assertion the town could not support another team. The Blues went to the playoffs six straight years and even the conference finals in 2015-16. They were on the cusp of greatness.

Unfortunately, for every roller coaster ride there is a valley after the peak. The Blues were simply the last car hooked up to that St. Louis train. The question now is how long the valley lasts.

The city and the neighbors up and down the block seem to be rebounding. The Cardinals made a bold move by acquiring Paul Goldschmidt, giving them a solid number three hitter they have lacked for years. There is still a vocal contingent unhappy the team has not written blank checks for bigger names, but it is still more than they have done lately.

Also, St. Louis seems on the precipice of gaining a top league soccer franchise. St. Louis FC is great – if you have not been, you should go – but there would still be something nice about having another major league team. The location just outside Union Station seems perfect too, creating a huge sports buzz in the area with Busch Stadium, Enteprise Center and this proposed stadium all within about 10 blocks or so.

What becomes of our Blues though? The team made major improvements, on paper, in the summer of 2018. Nobody in their wildest dreams would have predicted the kind of wanton destruction within this organization that seems to have happened.

Unlike the Cardinals, but similar to the soccer situation, the in-fighting seems pointless and petty.  Just when everyone should be on the same page, they go in opposite directions, fracturing the foundation of what could have been.

So, how long until they hit their uptick again? The city is already on its way, from a sports aspect anyway. Hopefully the Blues are not far behind.

The pieces are there to avoid a full rebuild. Sports have shown us that you never can tell though. The Blues have to get back on that hill upward or risk uncoupling from all the momentum.