Picture, if you will, a Dodgers fan after Game 4 of the 2012 NLCS. See, the Dodgers have an uneasy alliance with the Cardinals, too. They don't like each other unless they're playing a blood rival. And in 2012, Dodgers fans swallowed their pride to root for the gross Cardinals. For the greater good.

And after Game 4, it all felt worthwhile for them, I'm sure. If I had to make an analogy, it probably felt like … like you're feeling right now. Yeah, that's a good analogy. That feeling of smug satisfaction, of living vicariously through the schadenfreude of others, even if it's a tacit acknowledgment that you spent hundreds of hours rooting for something that was empirically worse than what the other guys got to root for. Tim Lincecum started that game, remember. He was the bad Lincecum. Adam Wainwright was dominant, as is his wont. The Giants were doomed.

Then they had three games of creeping horror. Imagine watching that Barry Zito game. That'd be like Giants fans watching a three-homer Nick Punto game tomorrow. WHICH STILL MIGHT HAPPEN. Even then, it's an imperfect analogy. There's nothing more certain than Barry Zito losing to the Cardinals in St. Louis. Nothing. Oh, they all slept well that night.

This comes up now because the Dodgers are down 3-1 in the NLCS. You've been there before. Don't get cocky. Wait until Yasiel Puig is thrown out on the moon for the final out of the series. So close. So far. So close.

This business of schadenfreude is weird. I really like most of the Dodgers bloggers. Jon Weisman is fantastic. Mike Petriello is outstanding, as is Chad Moriyama. The guy who runs the Ned Colletti parody account is legitimately funny. There are probably dorkbags out there, but I haven't found one. On an individual level, I'm sure you could find common ground with all sorts of Dodger fans.

And yet the Dodgers are horrible. So we forge on. Which is easy because the Dodgers are horrible. And they must lose. Go Cardinals. Go, go, go. My personal sense of self-worth is tethered to that team losing, dagnabbit.

There's still a Clayton Kershaw start left. Assume the Dodgers will win that one, for once. Zack Greinke is going to make another start. Ricky Nolasco probably isn't. Do you know what's more unlikely than the Dodgers winning three games in a row? The Dodgers winning 89 out of 88 games like they did to get out of last place. There are chickens. You can count them. But Yasiel Puig is going around and biting their heads off before they hatch.

On the whole, though, this is much, much better than the Dodgers being up 3-1. We're close to a Cardinals/Red Sox World Series, which would be the Cowboys/Steelers of baseball, which would be the Lakers/Celtics of baseball, which would be the ... I'm sure there's a comparison in hockey. The Krakens/Coopers or something.

Man, that Yasiel Puig double play in the ninth ... I'd listen to that rock opera. It was beautiful.

One more win, Cardinals. Musial Musings beseeches you.