The St. Louis Cardinals have been one of the most consistent winners in Major League Baseball. Since 1990, the Cardinals have only endured five losing seasons and only the 27 World Series Championships of the New York Yankees are more than the 11 that have been claimed by St. Louis. And even as the landscape in MLB has shifted, the Cardinals have been able to go with the flow. With the luxury tax and teams being worried about losing picks for signing top-notch free agents, along with the expanded postseason, there has been more parity in baseball as the last team to repeat as World Series Champs were the Yankees in 2000. But a few teams such as the Cards have been consistently involved in October baseball. Since 2000, the Cardinals have qualified for the playoffs 11 times with two of those trips to the postseason resulting in winning the World Series. The Cardinals have also made the playoffs in each of the last four seasons. And even after longtime Cardinals manager Tony La Russa decided to retire in 2011, St. Louis hasn’t slowed down as they’ve remained consistently good under current manager Mike Matheny. Whether it is losing players to free agency, injury, or untimely off-the field situations, the Cardinals keep on rolling along.
That has been put to the test this for the Cardinals this year as they have dealt with a rash of issues. Over the off-season, Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras was killed in a car accident in his native Dominican Republic. Taveras was only 22-years old and in his brief time with the Cardinals, he had flashed the potential that was going to make him a good player in St. Louis. Starting pitcher Adam Wainwright was coming off a season in which he won 20 games and he was once again going to be expected to leading the Cardinals starting rotation. But Wainwright’s 2015 Major League Baseball season came to an abrupt end on April 25 when he suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon when he was running the bases in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers. The past few years have seen Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams turn into more than just a serviceable player in St. Louis. At 6’3″, 260 lbs., Adams is a burly first baseman who can hit for power and he was continuing to improve defensively as well. Adams has also developed a flair for the dramatic which was evident by his series-winning home run last October in the National League Divisional Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. And with that Adams was expected to be a big part of the Cardinals lineup this season, but he suffered a torn quad muscle last month that will put him on the shelf for the majority of the regular season. And through all of that, the “Cardinal Way” has not wavered.
The Cardinals have begun this season which a record of 38-19 which is currently tops in Major League Baseball as they have a next man up philosophy. Wainwright might have been lost for the season, but it won’t slow St. Louis down as even as dominant that he can be on the mound, the Cards were still able to win a World Series Title without his services in 2011 while he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Cardinals still have catcher Yadier Molina behind the plate and the six-time National League All-Star is one of the best as far as calling a game and working with a pitching staff which is evident by the fact this season that St. Louis’ team earned run average of 2.58 is tops in the NL.
The Cardinals starting rotation has been paced by starting pitchers Michael Wacha and Carlos Martinez. Both Wacha and Martinez are 23-years of age and they are both enjoying career years. Wacha is 8-1 this season with an earned run average of 2.18 while Martinez is 6-2 with an earned run average of 2.94 as he is fresh off of giving up just a single run over 7 solid innings of work this past Friday night against the Dodgers. Martinez is playing with extra inspiration this season as he switched his jersey number from 44 to 18 in order to honor his late friend Taveres. The Cardinals also enjoy one of the best bullpens in baseball as their 24 saves this season are the head of the class in the National League with 19 of them being delivered by relief pitcher Trevor Rosenthal.
The Cardinals lineup is fourth in the NL in batting average this season at .263 and they continue to get it done with guys that may not jump off of the page to the casual fan, but their workman like approach takes care of business. Infielders Jhonny Peralta, Kolten Wong, and Matt Carpenter, along with outfielder Matt Holliday are all batting over .300 this season and if needed, each player can put the Cardinals lineup on his back for a few weeks. The Cards did acquire outfielder Jason Heyward from the Atlanta Braves during the off-season to add depth and replace Taveres in right field. I expected Heyward to fit right into the St. Louis lineup, but he hasn’t been able to get it going yet as he is only batting .247 with 5 homers and 17 runs batted in. Heyward has made up for his bat with his stellar defense which was highlighted by him gunning down Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier at the plate in last night’s 4-2 Cardinals victory. However if Heyward is able to improve his offense this season, the Cardinals lineup will become that much more dangerous.
The next man up philosophy of the Cardinals begins in their minor league system as each player there feels that they have a chance to make the big club and when they get there, contribute. And the players that are on the big club for the Cards know that someone is being groomed in the minors that could put them out of a job. Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak oversees this system and just as I wrote about the San Francisco Giants last week, St. Louis has a clubhouse full of guys that hate to lose more than they enjoy to win which is why they are always a tough out when October rolls around.
Mike Matheny
Being that Matheny spent 13 years as a Major League Baseball catcher (five with the Cardinals), he knows the game inside as well as out. And more importantly, Matheny understands what the Cardinals organization expects. There is no bad mouthing coming out of Cardinals owner William DeWitt Jr. towards any of the people that he employs in the press. The Cardinals don’t have any players that believe that they are bigger than the team and if that kind of player were on the roster there, he wouldn’t be for that long. Just like losing is an attitude and infectious, so is winning. For the Cardinals sake, they continue to be on the correct side of the ledger due to the system that is in place. This is a system that doesn’t allow them to sulk when things don’t go their way and it is also a system that could carry them to another World Series Championship this October.
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