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.