The St. Louis Cardinals clinched a spot in their fourth consecutive National League Championship Series on Wednesday night. For those who are counting — and as an avid Cardinals fan, I am — that makes nine NLCS appearances since 2000. To put that number in perspective, the only other teams to have reached four straight championship series are the 1971-1975 Oakland Athletics, the mid-’90s Atlanta Braves and the legendary Yankees teams from 1998 to 2001.

As someone who grew up while Albert Pujols was the best hitter in the game, these successes are even more impressive because the roster includes no true superstars. St. Louis is not dominating with an all-time great pitching staff, as the Braves did, and it is not full of big-name, top-dollar stars like the A’s and the Yankees. The Cardinals’ answer to Reggie Jackson and Vida Blue is Matt Holliday and Adam Wainwright. Instead of Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, I’ve watched Matt Carpenter and Trevor Rosenthal.

That plainness, that lack of flash or a big-name signing, is what makes the Cardinals simultaneously harder to appreciate and more worthy of that appreciation. This year is not the result of the triumph of star players, but the triumph of a process: develop young talent, limit risky trades and contracts, rinse and repeat.

The media, and especially ESPN broadcasts, like to refer to St. Louis fans as the best fans in baseball. In reality, we are the most spoiled fans in baseball. I can count on one hand how many times I have only been able to watch 162 games, and nobody can accuse the players of being “mercenaries” or the team of buying rings with huge team salaries. There is even enough young talent in the system to promise even more success in the future. Life is good for St. Louis supporters.

But those fans who will tune in to watch Adam Wainwright start game one of the NLCS need only look down I-70 or up to their rival Chicago Cubs fans to be reminded just how fickle the sport of baseball can be.

Will it be 106 years (and counting) before St. Louis wins another World Series? Probably not. Playoff baseball has begun to seem commonplace at Busch Stadium, and I expect to see a great comeback or three every October. Nevertheless, the city should take a moment to think about how special the playoffs are. Kansas City rejoiced at the thought of a wild-card play-in game after 29 years of futility. San Diego, Houston and the New York Mets would just like to see a winning season.

So as St. Louis enjoys yet another run at a pennant, all Cardinals fans, me included, reflect on how winning in the playoffs has become part of the team’s baseball tradition. We are truly lucky.

Andrew May is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service.