Are the Cardinals Back?
Courtesy of Sports Illustrated
Following their 7-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs, the St. Louis Cardinals are 44-53, extending their win streak to 6 games. This is the longest win streak of the season and puts them 10 games out of the division, a big gap, but not necessarily an insurmountable one. They have come back from bigger gaps and won the World Series in years past.
The Cardinals recently have been playing their best brand of baseball yet. They have been getting clutch hits, homers when they need them, and even their pitching has been stronger. Steven Matz, who has been their worst starting pitcher all season, due largely to a lack of command, pitched the best he had all season with total control of his pitches. In his start yesterday against the Cubs, he pitched 5 innings, giving up a total of 3 hits with only 1 run. This was his first win all season.
With strong starting pitching performances and the offense finally starting to click, it could mean good things for the Cardinals’ future. Because while the Cardinals’ President of Baseball Operations did state that they would be sellers, they weren’t completely giving up on the 2023 season. It seemed like a dumb decision at the time, given how badly they were playing, but now it seems that the optimism may have been warranted.
Their recent schedule coming out of the All-Star Break wasn’t particularly challenging or easy because they played the last place Washington Nationals and at the time, the second place Miami Marlins, which they were able to sweep. Their upcoming serieses will be telling as they play their league rival Chicago Cubs twice and the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Cubs have been struggling and are on the verge of being sellers themselves, so if they were to take both serieses against them, things could be looking up for the Cardinals as they inch up in the standings. The Diamondbacks are having similar struggles, so if the Cardinals want to capitalize on it with their current hot streak that’s building up, things could change for the Cardinals come the trade deadline.
It’s unlikely that with where they are at both in the season and standings that the Cardinals will make it into first place come the trade deadline. But given how the second place Cincinnati Reds have struggled as of late and with a difficult upcoming schedule, the Cardinals could find themselves in a second place spot sooner rather than later. If the Cardinals really want to be back though, they are going to have to hope for the downfall of the Milwaukee Brewers, which could happen given the difficulty of their schedule, but is unlikely since they too have finally seemed to get it together.
Nonetheless, the St. Louis Cardinals have come out of the All-Star break looking like the team we always thought they would be with solid pitching performances and key hitting when they need it most. The key thing to look for in the coming weeks is can this hot streak hold on, especially given the hole they dug for themselves at the beginning of the season?
