I was 22 years old for Game 6 of the 2011 World Series, a few months out of college in an era that will inevitably cultivate cultural nostalgia but for which I feel little warmth. We were still in the throes of the Great Recession, I was working lousy hours in a call center because…
Pastime
Last night, the St. Louis Cardinals earned one of the more thrilling victories that they will notch in 2025. Once trailing by three, they tacked on five runs in the fifth inning. After surrendering that lead, with Riley O'Brien giving up a game-tying double to Ronny Simon in the top of the ninth inning, the…
An alternate history: What if the Cardinals hadn’t made the Marcell Ozuna trade?
In terms of pure results, steeped entirely in hindsight, the worst trade that the St. Louis Cardinals have made in the twenty-first century, by a mile, was on December 13, 2017, when the Cardinals acquired outfielder Marcell Ozuna from the Miami Marlins in exchange for four prospects. The prospects, at the time, felt minor--the one…
It’s officially time to sell
Over the weekend, for the first time in 2025, two consecutive baseball games at Busch Stadium sold more than 40,000 tickets. And despite the presences of Adam Wainwright, Lance Lynn, and Jason Isringhausen, neither game featured the St. Louis Cardinals. It was the Savannah Bananas, the novelty barnstorming baseball team, that prompted the first capacity…
Hopelessness
I know for a fact that a nonzero number of St. Louis Cardinals employees have read, and presumably will read, St. Louis Bullpen posts. I say this not as a way of congratulating myself but as a bland statement of how sports blogging community works--this website does not generally generate the level of interest of…
So, um, what is the plan for the Cardinals?
Last off-season, everything that the St. Louis Cardinals did fell into place relatively quickly. They signed Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn by Thanksgiving and then added Sonny Gray the next Monday. They traded Tyler O'Neill two-and-a-half weeks before Christmas. Even the Matt Carpenter signing, which felt like a checkout aisle impulse buy, happened on January…
Juan Soto and the death of the bad baseball contract
Major League Baseball is less than three years removed from an owner-initiated lockout which threatened (and did briefly delay) the start of the 2022 MLB season, and it was based on the premise that owners needed a better deal with the players with regard to their collective bargaining agreement. I suspected this was not the…
How the Cardinals should spend their money this offseason (and how they should spend the money they won’t spend)
They could spend a lot of money, but there are some better options than others if they aren't going to do that.
Meet the 2025 Cardinals. Same as (or worse than) the 2024 Cardinals.
You could make a case, despite a few decidedly mediocre seasons in the back half of the decade, that the St. Louis Cardinals were the Team Of The 2010s. The San Francisco Giants won the most titles, but were nondescript otherwise. The Boston Red Sox got a pair themselves but also had some downright lousy…
The slow fizzle of the Dylan Carlson era
It would be really, really easy, and frankly a bit cathartic in the short term, to bemoan just how poorly top-tier St. Louis Cardinals prospects over the last decade have panned out. Even setting aside the obviously outlying case of Oscar Taveras (not to mention the departure of the other former top prospect who was…
Cardinals recreate the Harrison Bader-Jordan Montgomery trade, acquire Erick Fedde for Tommy Edman; also get a replacement Tommy (Pham)
On one side stands the St. Louis Cardinals holding onto a center fielder who had come to the Majors and surpassed his level of hype tenfold but had gone through a recent spat of injuries and had just one more year after the current one of remaining club control. On another side stands a starting…
Willie and Bill
An underrated part of the single most significant story in the history of professional baseball, Jackie Robinson's integration of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the National League on April 15, 1947, is that the man who broke baseball's color barrier was also a transcendent talent. The headline is not that Jackie Robinson was a Hall of…
The incorporation of Negro Leagues statistics has enriched our appreciation of St. Louis baseball history
Those familiar with the history of major professional baseball in St. Louis are likely aware that, prior to the 1920s, the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns were not typically very good teams. There were periodic winning seasons, but it wasn't until the arrivals of Rogers Hornsby and George Sisler that St. Louis developed…
The All-One Team Players Teams
As much discussion as player movement has received basically since free agency began, there are a number of current Major League Baseball players who have built Hall of Fame resumes with a single franchise. There are two players, Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw, who would be Hall of Famers in five years if they retired…
It is time for the St. Louis Cardinals to part ways with John Mozeliak
John Mozeliak has been very successful as general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. He deserves a lot of credit for his past. This doesn't mean he should be a part of the organization's future.
The grift that keeps on taking
As hopelessly addicted to watching sports as I am, I can sometimes overlook the fact that there are thousands of people in St. Louis and the St. Louis area that do not care about sports or the local sports teams in particular. There are some exhausting types who might ask if there is a sportsball…
Whitey Herzog: A man of innovation, a man of his time
Whitey Herzog: 1931-2024
A Review: “Hey Y’all”, the debut album from Adam Wainwright
Yesterday, for the first time since 2005, Adam Wainwright was not donning a St. Louis Cardinals uniform at the Cardinals' home opener. After nearly two decades in St. Louis, the native Georgian has moved from his Hall of Very Good career as a Major League Baseball pitcher to new work, one a relatively conventional post-playing…
The most significant Cardinals season in generations
The day was September 27, 1959, and the St. Louis Cardinals finished their season with a doubleheader sweep of the San Francisco Giants. By this point, neither the Giants nor Cardinals, though armed with baseball legends like Willie Mays and Stan Musial, were contending for the National League pennant, but 19,477 fans flocked to what…
One overrated team and one underrated team for each division in baseball
Every year, I come up with a new construct for how to preview baseball at large, and this is my one for this year. The thing in the subject. Simple enough, I think. Note: For the purposes of this exercise, I'm determining how a team is rated by their current odds to win the division--I'm…
Four early takeaways from the Shohei Ohtani scandal
I can't say that I expected, three days away from the first game of the season for the St. Louis Cardinals, that I would be writing about something that has nothing, at least in terms of its literal nuts and bolts that have been reported so far, to do with the St. Louis Cardinals. But…
Can I name the entire St. Louis Cardinals expanded roster? A lesson in humility
The great thing about writing about the St. Louis Cardinals in the internet age is that any information I could reasonably need is at my fingertips. Writers may bemoan that they do not have access to all of MLB's proprietary statistical data, but one can simply sidestep that conversation. There is information which is fundamental…
it is with a heavy heart that i must announce that Victor Scott shouldn’t make the opening day roster
There is a relatively early episode of Family Guy (based on the fact that I have seen and remember it) where the Griffin family is offered one of two gifts (I think for sitting through a timeshare presentation? I promise I'm not trying to seem too cool for Family Guy, a show that had plenty…
How Brandon Crawford could solidify Oli Marmol as the new Matheny
The acquisition of Brandon Crawford by the St. Louis Cardinals is simultaneously the funniest possible transaction and a completely defensible one. Acquiring a thirty-seven year-old, a fifth acquisition this off-season of a player who was born in the 1980s, is a deeply funny way of leaning into their own bit, and bringing in a guy…
The time is now for the Cardinals to extend Jordan Walker (again)
Not too long into the 2023 St. Louis Cardinals season, I suggested that the St. Louis Cardinals should extend Jordan Walker. They didn't, which on one hand means that the Cardinals have not secured the services of the most exciting young player that the franchise has to offer, but it also means I have the…
The growing pains of analytics, past and future
On Sunday night, a team that does not play in St. Louis defeated another team that does not play in St. Louis in the championship game of a sport that is not baseball. But I promise we're going to get there. In an objectively thrilling, tightly-contested game, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco…
The Cardinals signed Matt Carpenter? *THAT* Matt Carpenter?
Huh.
Nick Saban, Bill Belichick, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the importance of adaptation
On Wednesday afternoon, news broke that the greatest coach in the history of college football was retiring. On Thursday morning, news broke that the greatest coach in the history of professional football was retiring (or possibly being retired, but he will no longer be coaching regardless). These are not stories related to the St. Louis…
The Cardinals’ rotation rebuild was all it was ever going to be
The St. Louis Cardinals had a mediocre starting rotation in 2023 and four of the six pitchers who started the most games for the team last season were no longer on the team by the time free agency started--Jack Flaherty and Jordan Montgomery were dealt at the trade deadline, Adam Wainwright retired, and Dakota Hudson…
The Lance Lynn deal is history repeating more than you might think
The last two years have been an endless stream of nostalgia for St. Louis baseball fans. Both with the return of Albert Pujols and saying goodbye to Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright, memories of happier seasons than a 71-91 have permeated throughout the Busch Stadium air. This morning, the Cardinals signed Lance Lynn, who pitched…
FANFIC: A conversation between John Mozeliak and CAA’s Jeff Berry about Shohei Ohtani
Convincing Shohei Ohtani to sign in St. Louis may not be easy, but you can't do it unless you try it.
The ones that got away
The thing that really stands out when one watches highlights of José Adolis García, as he was known at the time, during his time as a St. Louis Cardinal, besides the fact that he tripped rounding third base and the Cardinals were eliminated from playoff contention by the Milwaukee Brewers because there is only one…
The MLB Playoffs are whatever you make of them
In 2023, the Milwaukee Brewers won 92 regular season games, which gave them the fifth-best record in Major League Baseball. Finishing ahead of Milwaukee in the standings were, respectively, the 99-win Tampa Bay Rays, the 100-win Los Angeles Dodgers, the 101-win Baltimore Orioles, and the 104-win Atlanta Braves. And with the MLB postseason field reduced…
The 2023 MLB postseason rootability rankings (for a Cardinals fan)
Like most people who read this website, I am a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals. But I am also a fan of baseball, and when the MLB postseason hits, that still matters to me independent of the presence or absence of my favorite baseball team. But despite the lack of Cardinals, I do still…
Requiem for the pitching win
On Tuesday, September 12, Adam Wainwright won his 199th career game. He allowed two runs in five innings, walking three batters and striking out three batters; these are not great statistics, but he did get 11 ground balls, which is impressive enough. Of his 199 career wins, this was certainly not his greatest triumph nor…
Should each MLB team relocate? An analysis.
Last Friday, I was driving to Milwaukee, a city I absolutely adore (I say when describing it in August as opposed to in February) when new reports came out that suggested that the Milwaukee Brewers would be entertaining the possibility of relocation if they did not receive adequate public funding for major renovations on American…
The 30 Immaculate Birds
Like every other sports sicko hanging around the internet over the last couple months, I have spent countless hours playing the viral first-baseball now-other-sports trivia game Immaculate Grid. For the uninitiated, the premise of Immaculate Grid is simple--you receive a 3-by-3 grid with the rows and columns titled, mostly by sports franchises but often also…
How to evaluate the St. Louis Cardinals’ 2023 trade deadline sell-off
Realistically, there were three realistic options for the St. Louis Cardinals at the 2023 trade deadline. Delusion: Convince themselves that they had a chance to make serious postseason noise in 2023 and either acquire new talent or maintain the status quo. The bare minimum: Sell off pending free agents at the last possible moment for…
Cardinals trade Jack Flaherty to the Baltimore Orioles
It wasn't exactly a surprise, but as first reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the St. Louis Cardinals have traded Jack Flaherty to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for minor league infielder César Prieto, as first reported by MLB's Francys Romero, and minor pitcher pitcher Drew Rom, as first reported by ESPN's Jeff Passan.…
The St. Louis Cardinals patience their way into prospect
Paul DeJong was supposed to be dead money. His contract, which saw the St. Louis Cardinals getting some bargain-bin years out of the shortstop early in it, was supposed to have turned fully sour and that the Cardinals were going to run out the clock. Instead, Paul DeJong has been shockingly competent this season. I…
Cardinals trade Jordan Montgomery and Chris Stratton to the Texas Rangers. What did they get back?
Jordan Montgomery and Chris Stratton are valuable enough players for a good baseball team with a desire to make postseason noise in 2023, but they have minimal value for the 2023 St. Louis Cardinals at this point. It's nothing against them, but Chris Stratton is about to reach free agency and so is Jordan Montgomery,…
The St. Louis Cardinals patience their way into prospects
Three months ago, the St. Louis Cardinals trading Jordan Hicks to the Toronto Blue Jays would have been inconceivable. Not because the Cardinals as sellers was inconceivable--the initial warning signs that the 2023 season would unfold as it has were already in place--but because Jordan Hicks still being on the Cardinals in July seemed impossible.…
What the Cardinals and Jack Flaherty meant for each other
At the end of the day, the team and the pitcher have been good for each other.
The likeliest members of the Cardinals’ 40-man roster to be traded before the deadline, ranked
I debated back and forth over whether to make this an actual post, because frankly I don't care much about explaining most of these answers, but I had enough to say on enough players that I figured I would go with it. Obviously it goes without saying that, say, I don't think the guy who…
A look back at the anachronistic Mark McGwire trade
1997 really wasn't that long ago. We had cable television and we almost had Dan McLaughlin broadcasting baseball games on it. This isn't ancient history. But to revisit the trade which brought Mark McGwire to the St. Louis Cardinals on July 31, 1997 feels as though it would require some competence in Olde English to…
No St. Louis Cardinals player is less going to be traded than Nolan Arenado
As a veteran of the First Great Nolan Arenado Trade Rumors Posting War, I believe that the lessons which I learned during the first cycle of Nolan Arenado trade rumors are instructive about the future of the Cardinals third baseman. In 2019, the Colorado Rockies signed their star third baseman Nolan Arenado to an eight-year,…
Ranking the near-Cardinals All-Stars, from least to most regrettable
Last night, Nolan Arenado suited up for the National League All-Star Team as the lone representative of the St. Louis Cardinals. There were other Cardinals with credible All-Star Game cases, but when you're in last place and the home of awful 2023 vibes, you take what you can get. But what was notable is how…
The kings of the stadiums
There are two things that every baseball organization should strive to bring to their fans: a quality product, and to do no harm to them. Baseball stadium construction is, broadly speaking, a giant racket. The Oakland Athletics are currently in the midst of trying to secure public funding for a new stadium in order to…
How to “win” a trade
That advanced baseball statistical research allows us to quantify just about anything is both the greatest strength of the sabermetric movement and the aspect of it which gives us the falsest sense of security. Statistics are objective--even if they are complicated to a point of impenetrability to the casual fan, like WAR or wRC+ or…
The cases for and against trading Paul Goldschmidt
The good news for the St. Louis Cardinals is that they are in the midst of a four-game winning streak. Yes, the New York Mets have been disappointing and the Washington Nationals have been straight up bad, but this is the kind of progress that a baseball team which entered 2023 was division title aspirations…
St. Louis Bullpen 