Let me start off by saying that I think the decision by the St. Louis Cardinals to relieve manager Mike Shildt of his duties was a very stupid one. Shildt was not a perfect manager--he lacked what I would consider an optimally quick hook when it came to pulling starting pitchers--but he was undeniably successful--his…
0 for 12 with runners in scoring position. Zero extra-base hits. Three totals players who got any hits. The St. Louis Cardinals lost last night and concluded an extremely up-and-down season on a sour note and they have nobody to blame but their offense. Over their final twenty meaningful games in the regular season--until they…
I am not a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers, but I am fascinated by them. For years, while consistently winning the National League West and being among the sport's biggest championship threats, the Dodgers were among the sport's biggest spenders, but they were also building a juggernaut less through big-ticket free agents and more…
If you are a fan of one of the ten teams which will participate in the Major League Baseball postseason of 2021, you don't need these rankings. You will root for your team, and there's nothing more to say about that. And that's the way sports work. Your allegiance is not an intellectual pursuit--it is…
In 2011, the St. Louis Cardinals were heavy underdogs in the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. While the Cardinals had rallied in September to overcome a massive deficit in the Wild Card race, with an 18-8 record in the season's final month, they finished twelve games behind the Phillies, who had arguably…
Yesterday afternoon, Kalyn Kahler of Defector dropped a fascinating report, published under layers of anonymity, about a Major League Baseball player, labeled "a possible future Hall of Famer", who took an aggressive approach to making sure his teammates were vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, going so far as to offer payments to vaccine-hesitant teammates in…
When the St. Louis Cardinals last won the World Series, their current starting catcher, Yadier Molina, was on the field. Adam Wainwright was in the dugout as a Cardinals employee but not a 2011 Cardinals player, having been shelved for the season in Spring Training due to Tommy John surgery. Matt Carpenter had appeared on…
Is St. Louis's love of its new backup outfielder ironic? Does it matter?
Tomorrow, the St. Louis Cardinals will begin a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers, a team with no motiviation. The Brewers clinched the National League Central on Sunday and are mathematically locked into the NL's second seed. Because Brewers manager Craig Counsell is a fairly smart guy, you can rest assured that if the Brewers…
If you take a long enough view and accept a narrow enough range of acceptable outcomes, one can both-sides pretty much any baseball trade. For instance, last weekend's visit from the San Diego Padres brought the return of Tommy Pham, whose departure from the St. Louis Cardinals via trade in 2018 was much-maligned and frequently…
And just like that, the St. Louis Cardinals are in a playoff position. A week ago, the Cardinals were firmly in single-digit odds to make the postseason, trailing both the San Diego Padres and Cincinnati Reds for the National League's second Wild Card spot. And now, the Cardinals' playoff odds, effectively staked entirely in the…
On Monday night, following Max Scherzer’s excellent outing against the St. Louis Cardinals, one of my admittedly numerous pet peeves sprung up—the deeply retrospective takes that the Cardinals committed historical malpractice by not signing Scherzer, Who You May Have Heard Grew Up In St. Louis And Went To Mizzou, when he became a free agent…
Yesterday, on his daily video for STL Today, columnist Benjamin Hochman asked whether St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado would win the Gold Glove this year. To which I will give you the simple answer: Yes. Should Arenado win the Gold Glove? That's arguably the more interesting question. By Defensive Runs Above Average, Arenado…
This afternoon, it was reported, initially by Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat, that when the St. Louis Cardinals' roster expands from twenty-six to twenty-eight players tomorrow, the new additions will be pitcher Brandon Dickson and catcher Ali Sánchez. The news brought inquisitive replies of "Who?", which is generally not considered a good sign when…
Yesterday, the Twitter account for the Seeing Red podcast, hosted by the omnipresent Will Leitch and Bernie Miklasz, posted a ranked list of the 22 seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals this century. Here is that tweet. https://twitter.com/seeingredpod/status/1430535458224803847?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet I agree with some of this list and disagree with other parts of it, but also it's…
Yadier Molina is well past the point where the St. Louis Cardinals should reasonably expect him to be one of the best catchers in baseball. Entering play tonight, Molina's offensive numbers were underwhelming--an on-base percentage just a tick above .300 with just eight home runs amounting to an 86 wRC+--and his defensive metrics, while still…
In May of 2018, I flew on an airplane for the first time in my life to and from San Diego. Long-time readers of the blog may remember this. It was a great trip and San Diego is a lovely city with great food, great drinks, and properly celebrated, immaculate weather. And when I got…
On August 7, 1991, the uncontested greatest baseball player of his generation was born. Michael Nelson "Mike" Trout was born thirty years ago today, and while the Los Angeles Angels center fielder began his career as a moderately divisive avatar for old school vs. new school statistical proxy wars, even Trout's most hardened critics were…
Sometimes, making a move because it is funny is worth it.
How a pair of 2010s NBA trades inform how the Cardinals should handle the 2021 trade deadline
Do you want to know the terrifying truth about the 2021 Cardinals, or do you want to see some franchise legends sock a few dingers?
Hello, friends. I was born on January 25, 1989, one day after two notable American League players--Los Angeles Angels pitcher José Quintana and Kansas City Royals second baseman/outfielder Whit Merrifield--and one day before Branden Pinder, a New York Yankees relief pitcher in 2015 and 2016 who is substantially less famous than Quintana or Merrifield. I…
It speaks to how successful the John Mozeliak/Michael Girsch era of St. Louis Cardinals baseball has been that the median casual baseball fan who comes across this headline will dismiss this post as the whining of a spoiled baseball brat. I get it. Since the tenure began in earnest following Walt Jocketty's dismissal as general…
Two years ago, I wrote a post on this blog about the increasingly obvious culture problem within the St. Louis Cardinals. At the time, the Cardinals were an organization that seemed lost in every sense of the word. They weren’t a particularly exciting team, they were coming off of three straight Octobers without postseason baseball…
Yesterday, Baseball Reference rolled out arguably its most ambitious project since, well, the very first day the website included statistics for every player in the history of the National and American Leagues. It was a project that at once feels long overdue but also like such a research challenge that demanding such a free and…
Last night, for the first time since October 12, 2019, the St. Louis Cardinals played a home baseball game played at its full stadium capacity. With 45,494 seats at Busch Stadium, plus the potential for a few thousand more via Standing Room Only spots, the June 14 tilt against the Miami Marlins had the potential…
Max Scherzer, 36, is scheduled to become a free agent at the conclusion of the 2021 Major League Baseball season. His team, the Washington Nationals, is currently in last place in the National League East, 7.5 games behind the New York Mets and with, per Baseball Prospectus's PECOTA standings, just a 5% chance at reaching…
There was quite a bit of hype, some of it substantiated and some of it a bit overdone, around several units on the St. Louis Cardinals entering the 2021 season. The corner infield duo of Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt were to fortify the team's offense and defense by themselves. The starting rotation had a…
On Friday night, Seattle Mariners catcher José Godoy made history when he became the 20,000th player in Major League Baseball history. The former St. Louis Cardinals farmhand drew a walk in his second plate appearance, in a game which was not particularly notable beyond the history being made. It does seem weird to give Godoy…
Hall of Fame cases are a lot easier to make when you think about the lesser Hall of Famers.
After plenty of conjecture and very little tangible evidence, rumors of Albert Pujols reuniting with the St. Louis Cardinals following a nine-plus year stint with the Los Angeles Angels were formally put to bed today when the Los Angeles Dodgers officially announced the signing of the greatest living St. Louis Cardinal to serve, presumably, in…
One of the strangest runs in St. Louis Cardinals history may continue beyond this season
Albert Pujols did not break Brad Lidge. And that makes his home run even better.
Thursday's news that Albert Pujols, the greatest living St. Louis Cardinal, was designated for assignment by the Los Angeles Angels invited a whole host of emotions. Pujols, in the final year of a ten-year contract which lured the long-time Cardinal to Anaheim in the Fall of 2011, is by any measure a shell of his…
Even if beanballs weren't dangerous, they are an inherently losing baseball move
Over the last several years, Major League Baseball has worked hard to expedite its games, and in and of itself, I'm glad they're doing this. Baseball games do take too long, and unlike the spikes in game time which happened at the turn of last century, it's not because there's this sudden offensive explosion. This…
Following his go-ahead home run in the eighth inning of his first game at Busch Stadium, Nolan Arenado was annointed as a superhero. Sure, St. Louis Cardinals fans would have been excited had John Nogowski or whoever else hit the home run, but because it came off the bat of Nolan Arenado, a player deemed…
Last night, Matt Carpenter hit his first home run of the 2021 season for the St. Louis Cardinals, and admittedly, it was a pretty weird experience. It wasn't an especially game-significant home run--besides the offensive explosion of the fifth inning rendering it moot, it only bumped up the Cardinals' win probability from 77% to 89%.…
On Thursday, Nolan Arenado hit a go-ahead two-run home run in his first home game as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. As often happens at Busch Stadium, the roaring crowd demanded that Arenado, following his return to the Cardinals' dugout, hop back out and salute the crowd. He did, the crowd got excited…
Today is Opening Day in Major League Baseball, a day which the league will happily tell you should be a holiday, and a day which I will happily tell Major League Baseball should be on a weekend if they want us all to watch baseball all day. The good news is that, unlike last season,…
Despite the Cardinals acquiring the bigger name, the Milwaukee Brewers had the best off-season in the National League Central
A look ahead to a season in which we inevitably look back.
For eleven glorious seasons, the Cardinals got to experience one of the three greatest first basemen who ever lived.
The "Yadier Molina can't hit well enough to stick around in the Major Leagues" takes are now old enough to drive
Before Jim Edmonds, the Cardinals were a sideshow for Mark McGwire. Once Jim Edmonds arrived, they were a serious contender.
A look at Adam Wainwright, from postseason hero reliever to staff ace to innings-eating veteran
This doesn't even seem possible. The St. Louis Cardinals should easily have a better team in 2021 than the total sum of their former players. It would be one thing if the Cardinals had spent the last several years trading away their best players for prospects who may never come to fruition. But the Cardinals…
You may not think the guy who used Limp Bizkit as his walk-up song because it repeatedly said a homophone of his name is "subtle", but Rolen was one of his generation's great quiet stars.
According to Dan Szymborski's ZiPS projection system, which projects the performance of every player and team in Major League Baseball, there are 411 players designated as "outfielders"--this is, if you do some basic back-of-the-napkin math, obviously far more players than there are spots, but this incorporates tons of lifelong minor leaguers and players who aren't…
Matt Carpenter had one of the strangest origin stories of any superstar in franchise history
