These 2 teams have been rivals since the inception of the NL Central in 1994.

The NL Central has been in existence for seventeen years. And in all of those years it’s been dominated by two teams: The St.Louis Cardinals and the Houston Astros. The Cards have won 8/17 Division Championships and they’ve been the Wild Card twice and the Astros have won the Division Championship four times and been the WC twice.

If you’re new as an Astros fan (and frankly, if you’ve recently come on board I’d have to question your sanity or your ability to think rationally), you probably don’t understand the deep-seated need for an Astros fan to see the Cardinals lose. But there it is. So it is physically impossible to for me to cheer for the Cardinals. Just. Can’t. Do. It.

As the NLCS begins today I’m stuck as a fan without team, in a way. I want to cheer in this postseason race. I want to have someone that I’m invested in. But you see how it can’t be the Cardinals. There’s just no way I can do that and still call myself an Astros fan.

So what’s a girl to do?

The obvious answer would be to cheer for the Brewers, since they’re the “non-Cardinals” of this series. And in truth, up until recently, I had nothing against the Brewers. I’m actually a fan of Prince Fielder, I mean, how can you not like that guy?

But I don’t think I’m going to be able to cheer for the Brewers either. You see, this season when the Astros were having the worst season in the history of the franchise, the Brewers fans were so impressed at their team’s ability to beat the very worst team in baseball, that they yelled in the faces of Astros fans, screaming and carrying on as if they had just won the World Series. It was a poor display of fandom. I lost all respect.

I don’t think I can cheer for a team like that. I really dislike the Cardinals, but their fans have always been reasonable and respectful, at least.

Now I have a decision to make. Who will I cheer for? Or will I just ignore this half of the playoffs as if it doesn’t exist?

I need to have someone to cheer for and I figure at this point it’s either the Beer Guys or the Umpires, but it’s definitely not the Cards or the Brewers.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can read her Astros blog at www.talesfromthejuicebox.com, email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.