Someday, perhaps, someone besides the St. Louis Cardinals will rise to Team of the Year in the Dick Allen Award competition. For now, it's been the Cardinals in all four years of the competition, even in 2014, which was not, by their standards, a great campaign for the prize.
By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles
Who else? The St. Louis Cardinals.
The Dick Allen Award has been contested four times through 2014, and the Cardinals have been the Team of the Year in all of them. The Cardinals won that honor for the fourth straight time in 2014. No one else was even close.
It's hard to explain something like this, halfway hard, anyhow. There is a fair amount of luck about bumping into an ear of corn and having the chance to play for it. But winning it and keeping it are other matters, and that's skill, and the Cardinals have it like no other club in the National League, year after year.
By Cardinals' standards, it wasn't even an especially great year for the Allen. They played for it in 16 different series and won nine of them, succeeding in only half of their 10 title defense attempts. But they won it four times (not including the start of this 2014, when they carried it over from the 2013 National League playoffs), and no one else developed a run that could overtake them.
Thus, the Cardinals, though not dominant, were dominating. They finished the year 29-24 in Allen games. The next closest team in victories was the New York Mets, who finished only 15-16.
The season ended with the Chicago Cubs holding the prize after winning two of three from the Cardinals in Chicago Sept. 22-24, then defending it on the road against the Milwaukee Brewers Sept. 26-28, the last series of the season.
The Cardinals' 10 title defense attempts were at least twice as many as any other club, and their 33 games with the honor were more than twice as many as any other club.
2014 Dick Allen Award results
Total run tiebreakers, if applicable, are given at the end of the results.
Total run tiebreakers, if applicable, are given at the end of the results.
St. Louis 2, Cincinnati 1 — March 30-April 3 at Cincinnati.
Pittsburgh 2, St. Louis 1 — April 4-6 at Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh 2, Chicago 1 — April 8-10 at Chicago.
Milwaukee 3, Pittsburgh 0 — April 11-13 at Milwaukee.
St. Louis 2, Milwaukee 1 — April 14-16 at Milwaukee.
St. Louis 2, Washington 2 — April 17-20 at Washington (St. Louis, 14-7).
New York 3, St. Louis 1 — April 21-24 at New York.
New York 2, Miami 1 — April 25-27 at New York.
New York 2, Philadelphia 0 — April 29-30 at Philadelphia.
Colorado 3, New York 1 — May 1-4 at Denver.
Cincinnati 2, Colorado 1 — May 9-11 at Cincinnati.
San Diego 2, Cincinnati 1 — May 13-15 at Cincinnati.
Colorado 2, San Diego 1 — May 16-18 at Denver.
San Francisco 2, Colorado 1 — May 20-22 at Denver.
San Francisco 2, Chicago 1 — May 26-28 at San Francisco.
San Francisco 3, St. Louis 1 — May 29-June 1 at St. Louis.
San Francisco 2, Cincinnati 1 — June 3-5 at Cincinnati.
San Francisco 3, New York 0 — June 6-8 at San Francisco.
Washington 3, San Francisco 0 — June 9-11 at San Francisco.
St. Louis 3, Washington 0 — June 13-15 at St. Louis.
St. Louis 2, New York 0 — June 17-18 at St. Louis.
Philadelphia 2, St. Louis 2 — June 19-22 at St. Louis (Philadelphia, 13-11).
Philadelphia 2, Miami 2 — June 23-26 at Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 13-13, 40-33, 3-1).
Atlanta 4, Philadelphia 0 — June 27-29 at Philadelphia.
Atlanta 3, New York 0 — June 30-July 2 at Atlanta.
Atlanta 2, Arizona 1 — July 4-6 at Atlanta.
New York 3, Atlanta 1 — July 7-10 at New York.
New York 3, Miami 0 — July 11-13 at New York.
San Diego 2, New York 1 — July 18-20 at San Diego.
San Diego 2, Chicago 1 — July 22-24 at Chicago.
Atlanta 3, San Diego 1 — July 25-28 at Atlanta.
DODGERS 3, Atlanta 0 — July 29-31 at Los Angeles.
Chicago 2, DODGERS 1 — August 1-3 at Los Angeles.
Chicago 2, Colorado 1 — August 5-7 at Denver.
Milwaukee 2, Chicago 2 — August 11-14 at Chicago (Milwaukee, 12-11).
Milwaukee 3, DODGERS 0 — August 15-17 at Los Angeles.
Pittsburgh 2, Milwaukee 1 — August 22-24 at Milwaukee.
Pittsburgh 2, St. Louis 1 — August 25-27 at Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh 2, Cincinnati 1 — August 29-31 at Pittsburgh.
St. Louis 3, Pittsburgh 0 — September 1-3 at St. Louis.
St. Louis 3, Milwaukee 1 — September 4-7 at Milwaukee.
Cincinnati 3, St. Louis 1 — September 8-11 at Cincinnati.
Milwaukee 2, Cincinnati 1 — September 12-14 at Milwaukee.
St. Louis 2, Milwaukee 1 — September 16-18 at Milwaukee.
St. Louis 2, Cincinnati 1 — September 19-21 at St. Louis.
Chicago 2, St. Louis 1 — September 22-24 at Chicago.
Chicago 2, Milwaukee 1 — September 26-28 at Milwaukee.
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