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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
St. Louis Bullpen 