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…
