Cardinals in playoff for 4th straight year!

[trappincoyotes39]

Sorry brewers fans but your year is done after leading the NL central for over 150 days the cardinals are locked into the playoffs thanks to the 1-0 win the pirates got over the brew crew.

cards looking good now that yadi is back and the bats are coming alive! We shall see how deep the cardinals can get this year! Go cards......

Playoff baseball is the best time of year cool fall nights and lots of added pressure!

[bblwi]

Yes we could not keep it together for another 10 games or so. We had stretches were all aspects of our game went south, hitting, pitching and defense. For hitting a lot of home runs we had trouble scoring runs when needed and our inexperience showed up in the later innings when many games get decided. With a young team however we should be competitive again next year. We have some arms that will take over for some of our older starters and our younger players will hopefully improve and have more experience.
We played after the al Star game like most had predicted we would all season so we did do better than many had projected us to do. We need to play better in our division and our division is one of the easier divisions in the ML so that needs some attention.

Bryce

[trappincoyotes39]

I do not think the NL central is an easy division if you look at win loss amongst the other divisions they are real close. red's would be 8-10 games better without all the injuries they have had this year, the cubs will be better next year the pirates,cardinals will be in the post season NL west will have two teams as well the NL east only one, AL East will have only one team in as well considering they have the Yankees and red sox that is something as well neither make the playoffs in the same season.

I could argue the NL west is the weakest in the NL with teams like ,SD,Colorado and Arizona.

cardinals ownership and GM have one of the best farm systems in baseball have for years and Branch Rickey the brain child behind it . They draft extremely well and make good choices They always sit 10-13 in payroll and have a massive fan base it is a team that has high expectations and high standards to play for them. They are results based and know when to hold them and know when to fold them more times than not with player personnel.

They did go out and pay good money for peralta but he has produced over 20 hr and above avg defense at SS for the cardinals.

A player to watch for the cardinals is Randal Grichuk they drafted him when they did the Pujouls deal with LA, this kid has a powerful bat and can play outfield really good and above avg speed as well.

[bblwi]

I hope you are right but both Pittsburgh and St. Louis have losing records on the road this year and with their overall records won't have home field advantages so they have to work very hard to be better in the playoffs on the road then they were. Very low runs scored over scored against as well. One would hope they would represent our division well but they need to be able to put together a string of good games. St. Louis has been hot lately I hope they have not peaked too soon or have a let down. Scoring runs has been an issue for all the NL central division teams when compared to others, at least on total runs scored versus scored against.

Bryce

[trappincoyotes39]

You look though at some of the stats and guys like carpenter, Holliday, Adams have good on base percentage and decent slugging, yes they have left more runners stranded but many teams do that at times.

I feel the dodgers could be tough and also the angels as well, consistent hitting though is more important than a year of higher than avg. though not many players like mike trout out there either.

Playoffs are an entire different deal than the 162 season for sure, pressure gets much higher those that handle it well will advance deep into the playoffs

[bblwi]

Cardinals only scored 12 runs more than they gave up. Washington and LA have about 100 more runs scored then given up and both are good on the road with LA having the best road record in the majors. It looks like no team this year will win 100 or lose 100 so there is more parity in the system even with the big money being brought into play.
Power stats are way down as are team and individual batting averages and runs scored. With most teams now keeping 12 pitchers or more in the line up there are only 3-4 bench players on each team and fresh arms for the late innings is keeping scoring lower.

Bryce

[trappincoyotes39]

What is keeping scores lower is the crack down on PED's that has made a big difference. You look at HR leaders they are in the 30's durring the steroid era they had that by July August . I think the pitching is the same it is the hitting that is off and PED's play a big part in that.

I like the game better minute the drugs, sure less HR but makes the game far more interesting for sure.

Runs for and against means little over all in the playoffs as many games your not getting some of the best pitching due to a 5 day rotation and at times teams like washing ton or angles playing where opposing best pitchers are off on the 2-3 game series due to scheduling. Come playoff time your getting the 4-5 best pitchers and in some cases your going to see the ace pitchers in 2 games.

Do I think the cardinals win the World Series? Nope not this year because of pitching I am not worried about hitting they have 2 good starters with injuries to other pitchers I just do not see the starting rotation being enough to get it done. Oddly enough they play well against top pitching like kershaw and others.

This is the first time in their history thought they have made the playoffs 4 straight years. Also when you look back they have played more baseball in the last 3 years than any other team. That has to wear on them at some point. They have played a lot of baseball since April 2011.

[trappnman]

KC and cards in WS? maybe

if KC can pull it off against Detroit, I'm going to root for them- been a long time for KC fans

[trappincoyotes39]

Tman odds not very good for either to make it to the WS. Cards have a young team as do the royals all be it the cards have plenty of guys who have been in the playoffs before. Both could enter as wild card teams or both could win the division we will know by Tuesday where each sits.

The royals would have to beat LAA and or Baltimore That is a tough road to hoe.

The cardinals have the best catcher in baseball and that to me saves a run per game as many will not try to steal on Molina to advance a runner into scoring position his caught stealing rate is above 45 percent that is very high for a catcher yet he leads the leaguer all the time in that category, plus he can pull the ball at will makes him a tough out overall as well.

29 years for the royals in post season play at least that will be broken, I just have a hard time with their owner so even though I live close I have been to just a few royals games, mainly when they play the cardinals . I have been a long time cards fan so even thought I live closer to KC the royals have no real impact on me, they do have a good stadium though. Nothing like that of the cardinals