Counting the blue shirts at Busch Stadium or the red shirts at Kauffman Stadium.
The 11 World Series titles for the Cardinals. The 1985 title for the Royals.
The Cubs even got involved in the battle last week, tweeting out a photo of Kauffman Stadium prior to the opening game of their series with the Royals with the caption, "Some people say this is the finest view in the entire state of Missouri." The BFIB took that about as kindly as you would expect. Although if you blow up the photo and look closely, there's a 2015 World Series flag that's four years newer than the latest one across the state. Just sayin'.
But if three games was good, six games would be better has been the thinking in recent years as Busch and Kauffman have each hosted a series.
Too much of a good thing? Interest was certainly going to wane at least a little through the years, but meeting six times sure seems like it's too much and has taken some of the bloom off the rose.
The Royals took two-of-three from the Cardinals in May at Busch and were looking to do at least the same when the series started Friday night in Kansas City.
But it's not the same Cardinals team the Royals saw the first time. In addition to swapping out Mike Matheny for Mike Schildt as manager, St. Louis has been on a roll in the relief since purging Greg Holland and Tyler Lyons and discovering ineffective Brett Cecil was injured and had to go on the disabled list. The Cardinals called up a slew of young arms to replace the trio and the bullpen has an ERA under 1.50 in nearly 50 innings since. And since the May series, Matt Carpenter has turned into one of the best hitters in the game.
The Cardinals are in a battle to climb to the top of the middle in the National League and possibly claim a postseason spot. For the Royals, no one will come out and say it, but it's a battle for the bottom of both leagues to get the best 2019 draft pick possible. So they're both still playing for something.
Nobody expected it to be this bad in Kansas City. The Royals brought in a few veteran players in hopes of winning games/trading them for prospects when the time was right and other teams were desperate to buy.
Well, they dealt outfielder Jon Jay to the Diamondbacks and sent third baseman Mike Moustakas to the contending Brewers for prospects to help rebuild the farm system. Lucas Duda is still on the roster, but the dealing part of the plan worked at least.
Nobody knows whether any of the players the Royals acquired will turn out to be standouts, but in their limited time with Kansas City, players such as outfielders Brett Phillips and Brett Goodwin (currently on the disabled list) have shown they aren't going to hurt you if you have to play them. Kansas City also has a pair of Rule 5 Draft selections - Burch Smith and Brad Keller - in its starting rotation to see if they can strike lightning in the bottle for the future.
The Cardinals dominated Friday night in a 7-0 victory, then followed with an 8-3 win Saturday night.
Both teams are getting what they want from the whatever you choose to call it Series. And maybe in a couple of years, it again will be a matchup that is truly must-see TV.