It would be hard to fault even the most dedicated Cardinals fans for not being up to speed on the American League Central.
Their favorite team has played 5.3 percent of its regular-season games against that division over the last seven years, and the out-of-sight, out-of-mind relationship would have continued if a pandemic had not scrambled and shortened the 2020 schedule into a 60-game sprint that swapped National and American League allegiances for geographic proximity.
Twenty of the Cardinals’ 60 games in 2020, or 33 percent, will come against AL Central teams. How the Cardinals fare against these unfamiliar foes could become a significant factor in determining the order of finish in the National League Central.