Wild Cards: How the Cardinals have surged into the playoff picture.
Let’s go back to the trade deadline, July 31st. It was a crazy week that saw some big names get traded, some teams going all in on 2021, and some teams completely blowing it up and beginning a rebuild. In the midst of all the chaos. The St.Louis Cardinals made two seemingly minor deals. They traded for John Gant to Minnesota for J.A. Happ, and they traded to acquire Jon Lester from Washington. Both of these acquisitions were met with disdain from Cardinals Nation. These were two veteran pitchers who seemed like they were well past their best days. The Lester move especially was met with dislike from Cardinals fans who were well aware of Lester’s time with their biggest rival up on the North Side. The moves seemed like nothing more than grabbing two guys who could eat up innings for the rest of the year.
Fast forward then to September 5th. The Cardinals were in Milwaukee with a chance to get a crucial series win over the division leading Brewers. Instead it was a tale all too familiar for Cardinal fans this season as the bullpen imploded in the ninth inning, eventually giving up a walkoff grand slam to Daniel Vogelbach. The Cardinals were 69-66 and while they were only 3 games back of the second wild card spot, the upcoming schedule included facing the Dodgers, Reds, Mets, and Padres. few thought the Cardinals would be able to catch up or make anything of it.
Now we arrive at the present day. The Cardinals are now 83-69. They have a 14 game winning streak (tied for the longest in franchise history), and they are 4.5 games ahead in the 2nd wild card spot. Since that disastrous walk off loss to the Brewers, the Cardinals are 14-3 and have swept the Mets, Padres, and the Brewers themselves. How did this happen? How did the Cardinals go from looking down and hot to being the hottest team in baseball heading into the final week? We can see a couple reasons why.
The resurgence of veteran pitchers.
The Cardinals have been led through the second half by a trio of veteran pitchers. Jon Lester and J.A. Happ? They’ve found the fountain of youth in St.Louis. Both have been solid throughout the second half and brought some much needed stability to a Cardinals rotation that was all over the place during the first half. As for the third pitcher, 40 year old Adam Wainwright has been the ace the Cardinals needed in the absence of Jack Flaherty.
2. The deadly trio of Goldschmidt, O’Neill, and Arenado
Mike Schildt turned heads a few weeks ago when he moved Tyler O’Neill into the third spot in the lineup between sluggers Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. The move has worked wonders. The Cardinal offense has surged and Goldschmidt, O’Neill, and Arenado have joined the legendery MV3 of Pujols, Edmonds, and Rolen from 2004 as the only trio in Cardinals history to all hit 30+ home runs in the same season.
3. The speedsters
One thing the Cardinals have put on display all season and especially during this winning streak is their aggressiveness on the basepaths. Tommy Edman has been one of the most underrated players in this game this season, quietly leading the National League in doubles and being in the top 3 in stealing bases. Near the bottom of the lineup, you’ve got Harrison Bader who made headlines a few nights ago by scoring from second base on a sacrifice fly. Not because the outfielder slipped or made an error, Bader is just that fast.
4. Winning in different ways
One other thing to mention is that throughout this winning streak the Cardinals have been winning in different ways. They’ve won games like Tuesday night in Milwaukee where they scored a run in the first via a walk, stolen base, a groundout, and a sac fly, a run that proved key in what ended up being a 2-1 win. They’ve also won games where the offense has gone crazy and they’ve bludgeoned opponents like they did Friday in Chicago 12-4. They’ve won games with their pitching, they’ve won games with their defense, they’ve won games with the long ball and they’ve won games playing small ball. This is a team that is doing everything right and is hot at just the right time. If I was the Dodgers and Giants, I’d be doing everything I can to win the division and avoid having to potentially play the Cardinals in a one game playoff.