On Sept. 23, 2005, the world was a different place. George W. Bush was president, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers were cellar dwellers, and, perhaps most baffling of all, Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina had never thrown to each other in a Major League Baseball game.

That would change that night, however, as Wainwright made his second career appearance. His first had come in a game where Molina had already been pulled. In the bottom of the 7th, with the Brewers leading the Cardinals 9-6 at Miller Park, Wainwright came in and put down the Brewers 1-2-3: Chad Moeller by flyball, Jeff Cirillo by pop-out, and Brady Clark with a flyball to center.

And Wainwright has seemingly been pitching to Yadier Molina ever since. They’ve had over 300 starts as a battery since Wainwright became a full-time starter in 2007. They’ll start again tonight in the Wild Card Game against the Dodgers. They’ll likely continue to serve as a battery next year, and presumably for however long the two of them stay with the Cardinals.

So how else was the world different back when Wainwright first threw to Molina? Here’s a sampling:

• That weekend (Sept. 23-25), the number one movie would be Flightplan starring Jodie Foster.
• The top song was “Gold Digger” by Kanye West and Jamie Foxx.
• The Washington Nationals were in their first season since moving from Montreal.
• Los Angeles’ pitcher tonight, Max Scherzer, was playing for the University of Missouri.
• The Dodgers’ manager, Dave Roberts, was still an active ballplayer.
• The City of Chicago had not seen a World Series title since 1917 (the White Sox would win it a month later).
• Daniel Craig had not yet debuted as James Bond.
• Tobey Maguire was still Spider-Man.
• The Nintendo Wii was still a year away from release.
• John Roberts was not yet confirmed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
• Most of the child cast of Stranger Things were not even in grade school yet. One of them, Priah Ferguson (who plays Lucas’ little sister Erica), hadn’t even been born.
• Saturday Night Live had yet to have a broadcast in High Definition. The Colbert Report was just under a month from debuting. The West Wing, Alias, Malcom in the Middle, and That ’70s Show were all still on the air.

And finally…

• Every other member of the Cardinals’ Wild Card roster had not played a game of professional baseball. And on the Dodgers only Albert Pujols had. And on Sept. 23, 2005 he was… at first base for the Cardinals as Wainwright threw to Molina!