On Saturday night, Milwaukee Brewers reliever Josh Hader received a rousing ovation from the home crowd at Miller Park. Although Hader has been one of the best relief pitchers in baseball in 2018, the overwhelmingly positive nature of his entrance was a reflection of the events surrounding Hader four nights earlier. Had Tuesday night never…
This afternoon, because rules, the St. Louis Cardinals played a Friday afternoon game at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs. This is a recap of that game. Here were the lineups. https://twitter.com/Cardinals/status/1020345124285534208 https://twitter.com/Cubs/status/1020314078173179904 Here are the events which transpired. I would first like to dedicate this recap to margaritas, a beverage which I consumed moderate-to-large…
The St. Louis Cardinals aren't too far away from being fully devoted sellers. They are a bad weekend from having such a marginal chance at making the playoffs that retaining certain players just wouldn't have much tangible value for the Cardinals, beyond the entertainment of them being around for a fruitless season. The obvious cases…
Since becoming manager of the Chicago Cubs before the 2015 season, Joe Maddon has a regular season winning percentage just a tick above the .600 mark. Over the course of a 162-game schedule, this puts his Cubs teams at a pace of over 97 wins per season, which surely everybody reading this knows is very…
This is Part 4 of a series about an alternate timeline in which the St. Louis Cardinals decide to function solely to succeed in 2018, abandoning all interest in long-term player development and instead hoping to win this one title. You can read Part 1, about the first day of trades, which included the acquisitions…
With Saturday's news that the St. Louis Cardinals had fired manager Mike Matheny, most of the attention, unsurprisingly, was on Matheny himself. Matheny, after all, had been the face of the St. Louis Cardinals organization for 6 1/2 seasons as manager and for five seasons as a player in the early 2000s. It was natural…
Although he is just 31 years old and is not yet technically eligible for enshrinement in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey has already crafted a more-than-worthy case for enshrinement among Major League Baseball's all-time immortals. The veteran backstop has been among baseball's most valuable players since his rookie…
Before there was constantly ripping Mike Matheny, there was constantly ripping Tony LaRussa. And before that, ripping Joe Torre, or ripping Whitey Herzog, or (briefly) ripping Red Schoendienst or Mike Jorgensen. Yes, St. Louis Cardinals fans tended to rip Matheny more than the others, at least as far as I can remember or tell, but…
In 2011, following a dramatic seven-game World Series victory and with their farm system suddenly loaded with potential impact Major League players, the St. Louis Cardinals looked as positioned for long-term success as they had arguably at any point in their history. Sure, the 2011 team didn't really "deserve" the World Series title that they…
On Saturday night, following an uninspiring 8-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds which brought the St. Louis Cardinals to a 47-46 record on the season, the St. Louis Cardinals relieved manager Mike Matheny of his duties, in addition to hitting coach John Mabry and assistant hitting coach Bill Mueller. Bench coach Mike Shildt will serve…
St. Louis Bullpen 