The Cardinals are on an absolute tear.
With yesterday’s win, they completed a three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres and won their eighth straight. They’ve extended their lead in the Wild Card race over the Reds to three games and are now 3 ½ ahead of San Diego and the Phillies.
The Cards began to plummet in June when Jack Flaherty went down. After leading the Central for all of May, the team collapsed into fourth and fell to a 37-41 record. That stretch took the Cards out of contention for the NL Central crown.
And for the longest time, they couldn’t find consistency. They gained significant ground in August, but never got on a significant roll.
That all changed once September hit. So what has worked for these Cardinals?
The Rotation has solidified
Mid-season acquisitions Jon Lester and J.A. Happ have done exactly what they were brought in to do; throw strikes and cover innings. With Jack Flaherty being injured twice, the Cardinals needed guys to bridge the gap between Adam Wainwright’s starts.
Wainwright himself is having a banner year with a 16-7 record and 2.89 ERA. He has long been tasked with being the “stopper” when they need to snap a losing skid. Wainwright has done just that and then some. He’s been the Cards’ ace all season, and figures to be the starter for the Wild Card game should St. Louis make it that far.
Now, the rotation is doing what it was expected to do coming into the season, and re-establishing itself as one of the best in all of baseball.
Offensive Improvement
The offense appears to have found a little more consistency, being able to put up more runs on a regular basis. They’ve also shown a great deal of resilience, being able to come back from deficits late in games.
They rallied from a 4-0 deficit against the Reds and ended up winning. They were also behind 2-0 in the eighth inning in Saturday’s game against the Padres, taking the lead on Tyler O’Neill’s two-run shot.
They even put up a five spot in the first inning yesterday. It used to be that one night, they score 10+ runs and the next they get shut out. Not anymore. In both Friday and Sunday’s wins, they scored eight runs and got timely hits when they needed them.
Defense
Defense has never been a problem for these Cardinals. It was the one thing that remained productive during their June slide and beyond. But they lead the league in Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average. And in the weekend series, they showed why.
Tommy Edman made two diving plays, and on the first pitch of the game Sunday, Fernando Tatis Jr. drove one to the wall in right field. It looked as if it would bounce off the wall, but Dylan Carlson had other plans, jumping and making a spectacular catch.
“He goes out, grabs it, makes a heck of a play and then we answer with the five in the bottom,” said manager Mike Shildt. “It was a big momentum switch and just shows that guys were ready from jump street.”
There was also Lars Nootbaar’s home-run robbery in New York. That catch helped the Cards’ prevent the Mets from cutting into their lead and keep the momentum on their side as they finished off a sweep with an 11-4 win.
Revamped Bullpen
The bullpen is still a little questionable. They struggled a bit over the weekend. They bent, but they didn’t break.
The pen has been much better since St. Louis changed closers and reassigned roles with other pitchers. Giovanny Gallegos has been stellar as the team’s new closer, throwing a 1-2-3 ninth to secure the sweep on Sunday.
Alex Reyes also seems to be back to normal, getting some huge outs in New York and pitching two scoreless innings in the series finale vs. the Padres. T.J. McFarland and Luis Garcia have been solid too, getting huge strikeouts and inducing key double play balls to get the Cards out of jams.
The Cardinals now look like the contender they were expected to be. For the first time since 2019, they sit ten games over the .500 mark. They now head to Milwaukee for a four-game set to kick off the final road trip of the year.
We’ll see what happens next.
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