High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The St. Louis Cardinals 1996 season was the team`s 115th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 105th season in the National League. During the first year of the William DeWitt, Jr. era, the Cardinals went 88-74 during the season and won their first-ever National League Central division title by six games over the Houston Astros. They beat the San Diego Padres in the NLDS, but fell in 7 games to the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS. DeWitt, along with Drew Bauer and Fred Hanser had bought the Cardinals from Anheuser-Busch during the 1995-96 offseason.