On May 22, 2002, the newest St. Louis Cardinal, Jordan Walker, was born in Stone Mountain, Georgia. In St. Louis, in the fourth-to-final season at the former Busch Memorial Stadium, the Cardinals hosted the Houston Astros. The game concluded in the bottom of the ninth inning thanks to a lead-off home run off the bat…
The ten likeliest major award winners on the 2023 St. Louis Cardinals
In 2022, the St. Louis Cardinals had their first major award winner (Most Valuable Player, Cy Young Award, Rookie of the Year) since 2009 when first baseman/plain hamburger aficionado Paul Goldschmidt took home the award as the National League's Most Valuable Player. You may be asking yourself--is this enough? Is winning the most major of…
What comes next for Dylan Carlson and Juan Yepez?
Since it was announced on Saturday that twenty year-old super-prospect Jordan Walker would make the St. Louis Cardinals' Opening Day roster, the overall reaction from St. Louis fans has been overwhelmingly positive. Walker, a consensus top-five prospect in all of baseball and the most ballyhooed St. Louis Cardinals prospect since no more recently than Oscar…
Who should crack the 2023 St. Louis Cardinals Opening Day roster?
It's a funny tradition in March--we know all about the obvious, huge names, ones which if omitted from the final slate would cause riots, but instead we fixate on the fringes. We concern ourselves with the final cuts and we talk ourselves into the significance of the mediocre, but when it comes down to it,…
No, but seriously, why *shouldn’t* the Cardinals break the bank for Shohei Ohtani?
I would never be so brazen as to proclaim that I discovered Shohei Ohtani, nor even that I was the first person to wish him to the St. Louis Cardinals, but I would say I was pretty early on the beat. I've been pushing for the Cardinals to sign Shohei Ohtani for so long that…
Adam Wainwright’s chase to become the King of Busch Stadium III
Adam Wainwright pitched a grand total of one inning at the former Busch Memorial Stadium, which was the home field of the St. Louis Cardinals from 1966 through 2005. It was his MLB debut, on September 11, 2005, and despite the thrill of a debut, the results are probably ones he would prefer to forget--a…
Should Jordan Walker start the 2023 season in St. Louis?
At the height of the service time manipulation boom, during which baseball teams brazenly refused to promote top prospects until the precise moment at which the team could delay his free agency eligibility by a season, a running joke, derived from reasons actually cited by various teams, was that any super-prospect who did not make…
Edgar Renteria’s Case for the Cardinals Hall of Fame
The ballot for the Cardinals Hall of Fame Class of 2023 was released on Thursday, with voting continuing through April 21. Fans will have the opportunity to vote for one of Joaquin Andujar, Steve Carlton, David Freese, Matt Morris and Edgar Renteria to take their place alongside the team’s numerous legends inside Ballpark Village. This…
Projecting the next unique Cardinals WAR leader
From 2011 through 2022, the St. Louis Cardinals have had a new WAR leader every season. Who will be the new name added to the list in 2023?
How the 2023 St. Louis Cardinals became the greatest baseball team ever
The 2023 St. Louis Cardinals probably aren't going to be the greatest team in MLB history. But here's how they would be.
The time for rooting against your favorite team
Since becoming a full-time starting pitcher, Milwaukee Brewers ace Corbin Burnes has been, by FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement, the single best pitcher in Major League Baseball. The 2021 National League Cy Young winner didn't quite reach his 2021 heights last season, but with a sub-3 ERA and seventh-place Cy Young finish in a 202-inning campaign…
Trevor Bauer would not improve (rooting for) the St. Louis Cardinals
Trevor Bauer would make the 2023 Cardinals a better team, but that would not mean rooting for the Cardinals would be more fun.
Willson Contreras is a no-brainer addition for the St. Louis Cardinals
By and large, the St. Louis Cardinals have been defined not by glaring roster holes but by general adequacy that could use improvement but which is fairly easy at which to squint and justify. Tyler O'Neill, Dylan Carlson, and Lars Nootbaar could use more depth behind them, but it could be fine. Move Tommy Edman…
A look at the potential catching options for the 2023 St. Louis Cardinals
Before his offensive production jumped several levels in the late-aughts and into the early-2010s, an oft-cited claim from manager Tony La Russa about St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina was that he could go hitless for the season and still be valuable to the team because of his defensive production. This was almost certainly hyperbole…
Did Cardinals Twitter run Jeff Albert out of town?
In "Homer at the Bat", from season three of The Simpsons, centenarian Springfield Nuclear Power Plant owner C. Montgomery Burns, moonlighting as the manager of his company's softball team, instructs then-Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Darryl Strawberry, paid a boatload of cash to play on the team in the league final, to hit a home…
A Cardinals fan’s guide to the 2022 World Series
For whom should you root in this year's World Series? What do I know, do whatever you feel like!
The MLB playoffs are whatever you want them to be
The 2022 Los Angeles Dodgers were an unholy juggernaut of baseball dominance--with 111 wins, they defeated their opponents with surgical precision throughout the season, amassing the highest win total of any MLB team since 2001. They lost one of the best free agents of last offseason--shortstop Corey Seager--and replaced him seamlessly with Trea Turner, and…
Bruce Sutter broke the mold
R.I.P. Bruce Sutter (1953-2022)
Why the Cardinals lost
Over the course of their 2022 National League Wild Card Series defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies, the St. Louis Cardinals saddled Phillies pitchers who have not been Cy Young contenders over the last two seasons with a 5.40 ERA. Against Zack Wheeler, who finished a close second in Cy Young Award balloting…
A look back at the 2011 National League Division Series
Eleven years ago today (specifically, tonight), the lone postseason series ever contested by the St. Louis Cardinals and the Philadelphia Phillies concluded. Today, the two teams add a new chapter to their postseason history. Only time will tell if their 2022 tilt reaches the heights of 2011, a series filled to the brim with drama…
The greatest Albert Pujols regular season home runs of 2022
A comprehensive ranking of every Albert Pujols bomb from 2022
How the Cardinals match up with the Philadelphia Phillies
At the risk of belaboring the obvious, the Philadelphia Phillies team which qualified for the 2022 MLB postseason, the first playoff berth for the franchise since their 102-win 2011 season ended in just about the most crushing possible fashion against the 2011 World Series championship-bound St. Louis Cardinals, is a good baseball team. At 87-74…
Who should be on the Cardinals’ Wild Card Round roster?
On Friday, the Cardinals will begin a (potentially) three-game series at Busch Stadium against the Philadelphia Phillies. For such a brief series with such dramatic stakes--the potential end of the 2022 season and the potential anticlimactic conclusion of two legendary Cardinals careers--those of Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina--selecting the optimal roster is going to be…
A champagne toast to the most meaningless baseball games imaginable
There's something inherently silly and strange about locker room celebrations in sports, something bizarre and contradictory about celebrating sporting greatness by acting like a reckless maniac and consuming some adult beverages that lessen your motor skills. Maybe it makes more sense after a championship, when there will be months until the next game. But following…
Do the Cardinals have a Jeff Albert problem?
In the third inning of Saturday afternoon's 5-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds, the St. Louis Cardinals scored three runs. In the forty-three innings since, the Cardinals have scored just one run, and even that run came via a throw hitting the scoring runner, who himself only reached base via the zombie runner, the automatic…
Navigating a new postseason format and crafting a St. Louis Cardinals postseason rotation
With last night's loss to the New York Mets, a Milwaukee Brewers franchise now doomed to be cursed by their non-tendering of first baseman Daniel Vogelbach, who drove in a run for the Mets last night, fell eight games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for first place in the National League Central division. As of…
The Greatest Twenty Teammates of Albert Pujols
When Albert Pujols debuted in Major League Baseball, there was an active player named Jesse Orosco, who was born on April 21, 1957. When he retires at the end of this season, the Majors will include Baltimore Orioles infielder Gunnar Henderson, who was born on June 29, 2001, a day by which Albert Pujols had…
Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright are St. Louis
Tonight, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright will make history, together, in their hometown.
Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, and Tommy Edman are on the verge of Cardinals history
The 2004 St. Louis Cardinals have the most wins in franchise history among seasons where most of the league's top players were not on active duty during World War II. If the 2022 Cardinals, a team which is already in good position to make the postseason, were to win the final twenty-four games of their…
Why David Ross was right to pitch to Albert Pujols
Entering Sunday afternoon's game against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Chicago Cubs stood at 56-77. While not literally mathematically eliminated from the postseason, the Cubs' playoff odds rounded to 0.0% and even the most optimistic of Cubs loyalist was fully aware that the season was a lost cause for them. At the risk of sounding…
The Jordan Montgomery trade just might be John Mozeliak’s masterpiece
Ever since Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers memeified the notion of sports teams "trusting the process"--the ideology by which they construct their rosters, there are some corners of the sports analysis world which have decided to completely eschew results. On some level, this is the wise move--if I'm playing poker and I'm dealt a…
Matt Holliday’s last weekend
This weekend, Matt Holliday will be inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame. Here is a look back to 2016, at the last weekend that was an extended tribute to him.
The historic last dance of Albert Pujols
Because, during the height of COVID-19 lockdowns and its total absence of televised sports, everybody with even the most casual interest in the NBA, and even a bunch of people who didn't, gravitated towards watching The Last Dance, a perfectly watchable documentary produced by ESPN Films and Netflix about the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls. Because of…
Albert Pujols and the summer of endless good vibes
Oh my God, Albert Pujols hit two home runs in the biggest win of the St. Louis Cardinals' season. In 2022. I was twelve years old when Albert Pujols debuted. I had yet to graduate from elementary school. Albert Pujols was Major League teammates with four men--Chuck Finley, Jeff Fassero, Bobby Bonilla, and Mark McGwire--who…
Paul DeJong is taking Midwestern grievance culture to unparalleled levels
A deeper look into why Paul DeJong simply cannot stop crushing New York baseball teams
A wholehearted embrace of the Matt Carpenter Redemption Tour (except for this weekend)
One of the two or three greatest Cardinals of the 2010s makes his first trip back to Busch Stadium since becoming the greatest baseball player in the world tonight
Cardinals make a riskier trade for a veteran lefty than yesterday, flip Harrison Bader for Jordan Montgomery
My first reaction to the late-breaking trade which saw the St. Louis Cardinals sending starting center fielder Harrison Bader to the New York Yankees for starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery is that I'm mad because they ruined my "the Cardinals didn't do enough to improve the starting rotation at the deadline" post I was just getting…
José Quintana is the exact low-risk rental the Cardinals love (and you should like)
The problem with a couple weeks' worth of Juan Soto trade rumors and discussion, not the least of which were propagated by this site, is that virtually any other trade is going to seem like a half-measure by comparison. Even if the Cardinals had, say, jumped into the Luis Castillo or Frankie Montas bidding wars…
You absolutely do not have to respect Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt’s decision
Yes, I have to accept their decision. I absolutely do not have to respect it.
Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, and Austin Romine simply don’t want it enough
It's one thing to perform poorly. It's another thing to not be physically able to perform. It's a whole other issue when you choose not to perform.
Okay, let’s build a Juan Soto trade
Guys like Juan Soto don't come cheap
The value of two-plus seasons of Juan Soto in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform
A team doesn't need to have Juan Soto for a decade to get a ton of value out of having Juan Soto
What should the Cardinals offer for Juan Soto?
Juan Soto is one of the greatest players in baseball, and the cost of trading for him would likely reflect that
The 20 Greatest Living Baseball Players
Where does Albert Pujols rank among the twenty greatest living baseball players? Spoiler alert: Somewhere!
Albert Pujols, Corey Dickerson, and the paradox of efficiency
Before I start discussing two members of the 2022 St. Louis Cardinals, I will begin in the time and place where you surely assumed this would begin--the college football realignment landscape of a decade ago. Technically, this was the realignment landscape of major college athletic conferences in general, but the reality was the purpose of…
How late-stage Mike Matheny helped to build the 2022 St. Louis Cardinals for the better
You gotta love a happy accident
Brendan Donovan and Jack Flaherty: A tale of two teammates and an evolving culture
In which one Cardinal tried to dig out of controversy, and another steered right into it
Nolan Gorman prepares to usher in a new generation of St. Louis Cardinals baseball players
Tonight, Nolan Gorman will (likely) become the first Cardinal born in the 2000s. A look back at each decade's first ever St. Louis Cardinal.
Was Albert Pujols the greatest Position Player Pitcher in history?
I watched almost zero minutes of the St. Louis Cardinals game on Sunday night. I was busy making and eating dinner, and by the time I got to checking the score of the baseball game, it was uncompetitive and there were three Games Seven in the NBA and NHL postseasons available to watch that night…
A brief history of St. Louis’s greatest sporting triumphs over every major North American sports market
Tonight, the St. Louis Blues will square off against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of the National Hockey League's Western Conference Semifinal. And if the Blues defeat the 2021-22 President's Trophy winners, awarded to the team with the league's highest points total, it will without question be the greatest St. Louis over Denver triumph…
St. Louis Bullpen 