Some people don't watch baseball after the St. Louis Cardinals are eliminated from championship contention. That's fine. You're allowed. I am not one of those people, and many of you reading this are not one of those people. But after you spend an entire season being almost singularly devoted to one specific baseball team, it…
The St. Louis Bullpen Show: The NLCS and 2019 recap and a look ahead to free agency
The latest episode of the St. Louis Bullpen Show, starring myself and Alex Turpin, can be found at the link below. Also, please subscribe via Spotify, Radio Public, and elsewhere to be kept informed of the latest episodes. https://anchor.fm/the-st-louis-bullpen-show/episodes/The-NLCS-and-2019-recap-and-a-look-ahead-to-free-agency-e7rdpv
This is what we asked for
When the St. Louis Cardinals signed Dexter Fowler following a 2016 season which saw the team’s half-decade postseason streak snap, he was supposed to solidify an outfield that was hit or miss for most of the prior year. It didn’t result in the Cardinals making the playoffs. When the Cardinals acquired Marcell Ozuna, he was…
In defense of Kolten Wong: Bunter
In the National League Division Series, St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Shildt, a manager I generally consider to be above-average and would certainly at the least include on my NL Manager of the Year ballot, made at least one managerial decision that I considered to be indefensibly poor in each game of the series. Here…
MLB doesn’t care about its attendance. You shouldn’t, either.
Last Friday, St. Louisans were presented with a rare and special opportunity. That night, the St. Louis Cardinals were going to face the Washington Nationals in Game 1 of the 2019 National League Championship Series, in a sporting event that would dominate the national sporting landscape for the night. The downside was that the temperature…
David Freese for damn ever
When I was ten years old, I’d take a wiffle ball bat and a tennis ball, use my left hand to toss the tennis ball up in the air, quickly get into a batting stance, and swing. If it went 100 feet and relatively high, it was a home run. That’s what fantasies are for.…
Ranking all of the hits for the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1
In the wake of the St. Louis Cardinals' offensive explosion in the first inning of Game 5 of the National League Division Series, when the team scored ten runs off the Atlanta Braves, a popular format was pervasive throughout the internet--ranking all of the big moments. It's hardly a new format but it does a…
Let’s get to know the Washington Nationals
On Wednesday night, the Washington Nationals won the first playoff series in the history of the franchise, dating back to 1969, when they were the Montreal Expos. Tonight, they will begin their quest for their second series win, this time against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Nationals just upended a 106-win Los Angeles Dodgers team…
The St. Louis Bullpen Show Episode 2: The NLDS Review and NLCS Preview
https://anchor.fm/the-st-louis-bullpen-show/episodes/The-NLDS-Review-and-NLCS-Preview-e6foee This episode is officially available on Spotify, Radio Public, and through our primary feed at Anchor.fm. We anticipate it will also be available on Google Podcasts shortly and hope to eventually get the show on Apple Podcasts. Just search for "The St. Louis Bullpen Show" and the ramblings of St. Louis Bullpen's Alex…
Who should be on the NLCS roster, since the Cardinals won 13-1 yesterday
Last night, the St. Louis Cardinals won the NLDS, and also the sun rose and set. That has become the standard during the division series era. The Cardinals have now won the NLDS eleven times in my lifetime, which probably explains my obnoxiousness on the matter. But I’m greedy and I want more! So let’s…
There’s nobody in the world I want on the mound tonight more than Jack Flaherty
Nearly a decade after the most famous NLDS Game 5 in St. Louis Cardinals history, the team's 1-0 shutout of the Philadelphia Phillies in 2011, there has been plenty of myth-building to go around. One of those myths is the perception that the two starters that night, Chris Carpenter and Roy Halladay, were comparably dominant…
The five greatest individual Cardinals playoff performances this decade (before last night, which I cannot yet be objective about)
So, um, that was fun. The rational part of me knew that last night was possible, and maybe even likely. I have the receipts to prove it. But the dumb fan in me couldn't fathom the Cardinals ever winning a game after Sunday night's heartbreak, much less the next game. I fancy myself an analytical person who…
Brian McCann had an 89 wRC+ this season
Not unlike Yadier Molina, Brian McCann is going to sneak into Hall of Fame consideration once he retires. I don't think he's going to make it--he has a weaker narrative case than Molina by a fair amount, and this is particularly advantageous when it comes to cases that are less than extremely obvious when looking…
The Tomahawk Chop is a regressive, embarrassing relic of a bygone era of disgusting cultural appropriation vs. no it isn’t
Editor's note: With the use of the "Tomahawk Chop", a popular chant among Atlanta Braves fans, once again a hot button issue in Major League Baseball, I have asked two long-time online opinion columnists, Nathan Eckert and Bob Sheffer, to contribute their takes on the matter.--JF Nathan Eckert I am a lifelong fan of the…
It’s time for Matt Carpenter to start for the Cardinals
Long-term, I haven't given up on Harrison Bader. Bader is an inner-circle candidate for best defensive center fielder in baseball, and center field is a position where if you're the best fielder at it, you can get away with more than a few shortcomings at the plate. An OPS+ of 80 is considered pretty lackluster…
Six observations from all this Ronald Acuna business
In the wake of last night’s chaotic mess of a baseball game, culminating in a 7-6 victory for the St. Louis Cardinals over the Atlanta Braves, no player has garnered more attention than Ronald Acuna Jr., the young Braves superstar who managed three hits for seven total bases, an additional walk to lead off the…
A quick primer on how to root against the Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves, occasionally known as the Atlanta Barves, are a baseball team that has some nice things to them. They are the franchise which saw most of the career of Hank Aaron, one of the most noble and gentlemanly superstars in baseball history. They currently have a mostly likable roster of players with a…
The ten players I most want to see win a title for the Cardinals
Man, the Major League Baseball playoffs are awesome. The hockey team I've been watching choke every Spring my entire life just won the Stanley Cup four months ago. The title of "greatest sports championship of 2019" is already decided. And yet this doesn't dull my excitement for what's about to happen. It's only been four…
A look ahead at the Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves won 97 games in 2019. When the St. Louis Cardinals won this many games in 2013, it was considered a sign of a team that was dominant (and also historically lucky with runners in scoring position, but that’s a separate matter). When the Braves did it, it makes them an afterthought compared…
A preview of the 2019 MLB postseason
Tonight, the Major League Baseball playoffs begin with the National League Wild Card Game, a Game which will not include the St. Louis Cardinals, who won the National League Central division. In case you hadn’t heard. For any Cardinals fan, those particular games are going to be the highlights, the times where you schedule your…
The St. Louis Bullpen Show–Episode 1: The NLDS Preview
In this first episode of The St. Louis Bullpen Show, John Fleming and Alex Turpin submit their suggested rosters for the Cardinals' NLDS battle with the Atlanta Braves (8:48), look back at the last time the Cardinals and Braves squared off in the postseason (50:11), preview the opponents and the eventual series results (55:12), and…
Constructing a playoff roster for the Cardinals against the Braves in the NLDS
On the final day of the 2019 regular season, the St. Louis Cardinals destroyed the Chicago Cubs 9-0 to clinch their first division title and playoff berth since 2015. Because of this, the Cardinals have earned a berth in the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves. And while the Braves may not be…
The Cardinals should destroy the Cubs (again)
The last weekend of the 2016 season for the St. Louis Cardinals will always be remembered for two things: a three-day era of good feelings towards outgoing (like, leaving, not extroverted) left fielder Matt Holliday and it being the last stand for the early 2010s Cardinals mini-dynasty. And it came during a series in which…
Five times Jack Flaherty almost wasn’t a Cardinal that will restore your faith in humanity
Last night, the Sun went down, and just as predictably, St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Jack Flaherty looked like the most dominant force in baseball. While Flaherty got off to a somewhat mediocre start to his 2019 season, he continued to add to his unfathomably strong second half of the year. The twenty-three year-old ace…
The weekend in review–10 moments where the Cardinals put the Cubs in the trash
Last week, in preparation of the St. Louis Cardinals' four-game series against the Chicago Cubs, I wrote that the Cardinals should destroy the Cubs. And while referring to a four-game set in which a team outscored its opponent by four total runs as "destroying" is probably a bit generous, the result was there--by wins and…
The Cardinals should destroy the Cubs
I am a man of countless idiotic opinions. I hold beliefs that I have been told are stupid, and wisdom of crowds makes me believe that they are indeed stupid, but this does not keep me from believing them. I believe that The Godfather Part III is not only a good movie, but a deeply necessary counterpoint…
A look back at the great Cardinals trade swindles, from the other side
In the twenty-first century, Major League Baseball’s front office personnel had a major breakthrough in pop culture relevance. With the enormous popularity of Michael Lewis’s book Moneyball, general managers became easily identifiable avatars for fans, particularly sabermetrically-inclined fans. The rising popularity of franchise modes in EA Sports video games, not to mention Baseball Mogul or Out Of…
What is Tommy Edman?
When the St. Louis Cardinals promoted Tommy Edman to the Major Leagues three months ago yesterday, it felt like the wheels were being turned for a few years on the Memphis Shuttle. While Edman had hit well for the Memphis Redbirds in 2019, he was not a particularly acclaimed prospect--FanGraphs ranked him 20th among Cardinals…
Evaluating Dakota Hudson’s awards case
Considering the St. Louis Cardinals are in first place and have been the hottest team in the National League for the last couple months, the team has a shocking lack of viable candidates for National League Most Valuable Player. And I don't mean to win the award, which will almost certainly (deservedly) go to Milwaukee Brewers outfielder…
The case against a Dylan Carlson September call-up
It's easy to forget that St. Louis Cardinals minor league prospect Dylan Carlson entered the 2019 season as a relatively minor prospect. Per MLB.com, Carlson ranked just tenth in the Cardinals system, as he entered his first season with the AA Springfield Cardinals. But throughout the season, Carlson has emerged as, along with Nolan Gorman,…
Mike Shildt stands up for his players and we should be glad he does
Matt Carpenter is having, by his standards, a rough season in 2019. He has never been a particularly fleet of foot runner, and defensively, while he once provided additional value by virtue of his ability to handle, if not master, multiple positions, he has been limited almost exclusively to third base. Carpenter's value comes from…
The chase to be Team of the 2010s
Who is the team of the 2010s? This is an open-ended question but it is also a question which can be quantified. So I decided I wanted to quantify it. Of course, the 2010s are not yet over, and the next two-plus months of baseball, particularly the off-season, will go a long way in defining…
You can never have too many good outfielders
Yesterday afternoon, Springfield Cardinals outfielder Dylan Carlson was promoted to the Memphis Redbirds. As somebody with bare-bones knowledge of the St. Louis Cardinals' minor league affiliates, a system promotion that does not involve being promoted to the Majors normally wouldn't be a big deal to me. But over the last 4 1/2 months of professional…
How the Cardinals should incorporate Matt Carpenter and Yadier Molina down the stretch
The life cycle of the scrappy underdog baseball player is a shockingly depressing one. Seemingly, it should be easy. You come into Major League Baseball with minimal expectations, you surpass those expectations, and everybody just loves you forever. But eventually, if you're too good, you transcend scrappiness and become just like any other good baseball…
The moves the Cardinals didn’t make
With the 2019 trade deadline loaded with prospective buyers and limited on sellers (particularly on sellers with anything worth selling), most of the individual non-moves that the St. Louis Cardinals didn't make can be rationalized. Unfortunately, in conjunction with absoultely nothing else, the move that the Cardinals did make doesn't make very much sense. Yesterday, the Cardinals…
Why the Cardinals should be glad they avoided Trevor Bauer, besides the fact that he’s an annoying dork
Editor's (my) note: So, I wrote this post on Monday night about how the Cardinals shouldn't trade for Trevor Bauer and then something happened tonight: he got traded to the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds gave up Yasiel Puig and a top-50 prospect in Taylor Trammell in order to do so, and for reasons you should…
Being “All In” is a Cardinals’ pipe dream
Here's the truth: going "all in" is usually not a smart move. Of course, we need to define the context where this phrase is being used. When you're sitting around a poker table with pocket aces and a dwindling stack, all in may be your best bet. It's a way of pushing hesitant and amateur…
What to do with Harrison Bader
With the exceptions of Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, and maybe Matt Carpenter, no player was a more pivotal focal point of St. Louis Cardinals marketing during the 2018-19 off-season than center fielder Harrison Bader. Not quite a non-prospect but arriving in St. Louis was marginal hype, Bader burst into the regular Cardinals position player rotation with a…
Let’s remember some guys on the 2004 St. Louis Cardinals
The 2003-04 school year was a pretty miserable one for me. It was my freshman year in high school, and because I lived in this weird purgatory of middle and high school district overlap, in my class of 512 people, I knew less than ten of them, and I had zero classes with any of…
The Importance of Being Idle
In 2019, Major League Baseball has three distinct classes of teams. In the upper class reside the teams with certain playoff futures--the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, and Houston Astros all have projected odds of making the League Division Series of over 96% with over two months left in the season, and there was…
Bob Gibson and toughness
A quick gander at Bob Gibson's Baseball Reference page will tell you that the most similar pitchers to him were Jim Palmer, Jack Morris, and Amos Rusie. Comparing Gibson to these three is no insult--the trio are each Hall of Famers, with the most similar to Gibson, Palmer, also being a first-ballot Hall of Famer…
Comparing the Tommy Pham trade to other terrible trades of the 2010s
When it comes to evaluating a trade years in retrospect, there are two essential components to evalute--process and results. Sometimes, a trade can be good in terms of process--the underlying logic behind it is sensible--even if the trade works out poorly. Take, for a famous example, the 1987 trade in which the Detroit Tigers traded…
The St. Louis Cardinals Have a Culture Problem
Eight years after his free agent departure for Anaheim, Albert Pujols made his much-anticipated return to Busch Stadium this past month, and the homecoming was everything all of us could’ve hoped for. Every time Pujols stepped into the batter’s box, he was greeted with a long and loud standing ovation. When he dug in with…
On grief
This afternoon, the baseball world was stunned by the announcement that Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs, 27, had died suddenly while the team was in Texas to play against the Rangers. Tonight’s game was cancelled, and while articulating the pain of the death of a 27 year-old man seemingly in peak physical condition was…
What the loss of Jordan Hicks means to the Cardinals
Watching the 2019, and probably 2020, St. Louis Cardinals just became a lot less fun. The announcement on Monday afternoon that Cardinals relief pitcher Jordan Hicks had suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament. While no timetable was announced for his recovery, this is almost always a sign that a pitcher will miss the remainder of…
What Pujols did
It is hard to overstate how lucky the St. Louis Cardinals were to draft Albert Pujols. Famously, Albert Pujols was not a coveted amateur prospect, and in 1999, the Cardinals drafted the pudgy amateur third baseman out of Kansas City's Maple Woods Community College with the 402nd overall pick. Every team in baseball passed on…
SMCH Vol. 2: The Dumbest Game in Cardinals History
https://twitter.com/justin_klugh/status/659236511565639680 Hello all, and welcome to the second edition of what I'm hoping can be a lengthy series for this little old blog (if the monstrous person known as John Fleming will allow it), Something Moments in Cardinals History. Again, the purpose of this series is to look back at those Cardinals moments that aren't…
A hell of a sports city
For years, "St. Louis is a baseball town" was used in a largely complimentary way. It was a thing that those involved in baseball said to speak highly of the passion for and knowledge of the sport in the St. Louis area. It didn't really have any tangible benefits--mostly, it meant ESPN announcers would compliment…
The greatest Cardinals World Series Game Sevens
There is nothing like a Game 7. The finality of a winner-take-all game with a championship on the line is indescribable. My biases in favor of Game 6 of the 2011 World Series as the greatest baseball game I've ever seen aside, I think the objective answer for greatest game ever has to be a Game 7.…
SMCH, Vol. 1: Brad Penny Grand Slams Himself Into Oblivion
The bittersweet symphony of Brad Penny's greatest triumph.
