The Cardinals came into this season poised to return to the 100 wins they had in 2015. 2016 had a list of injuries that hampered the team. Both to the offense and the pitching staff, they were never able to get anything consistent going. In 2017, they’ve been the epitome of a team getting things going well and poorly all at the same. When their pitching does well, their offense has been absent. They’ve had solid pitching all year, but haven’t had the offense to support it the whole year. Will they be able to get into the playoffs with that model?
1st Story: Do the stats suggest that they Cardinals won’t make the playoffs?
The Cardinals have actually had a very solid pitching staff. They rank 5th on Fangraphs in team ERA, as well as 10th in the HR/FB, and 7th in WAR. All of these suggest that the Cardinals would do fairly well in the playoffs. However, the Cardinals are ranked 15th in runs scored, 18th in HR’s, and 16th in SLG percentage. They’ve been successful in getting on base, with a team OBP of .334. So how does that compare with some of the playoff teams from last year? The Cardinals that are behind where two of the playoff teams had for the year, but are ahead of the others. It will depend on the offense to improve consistently to support the solid pitching staff.
2nd Story: Who deserves to be the closer?
Trevor Rosenthal lost his closer role last year when he just couldn’t perform to a level the Cardinals were used to. Enter Seung-Hwan Oh, who really showed some talent in 2016. This year, however, Oh hasn’t repeated his success this season. Rosenthal has stepped up in 2017 to bounce back well. With 74 K’s in 46.2 IP, Rosenthal ranks 5th in K/9, ahead of Kenley Jansen and Andrew Miller. He’s appeared in 48 games and pitched 46.2 innings. Being a closer can be a fickle position, but it seems time for the Cardinals to make the move back to Rosenthal’s lightning fastball.
3rd Story: Will Kolton Wong take a step forward during the playoff push?
Kolton Wong has had a roller coaster of a career. In 2013, he had a great season in AAA, then when he got called up he struggled mightily. He started 2014 in AAA, hit .360 and got called up and hit .249. He finished 2014 with 12 HR’s though, so it was nice shift. He finished 2015 with a .262 and 11 HR’s, which was a step in the right direction. This season, Wong is hitting .304 in 75 games. His power has taken a big dip, with only 2 HR’s. He’s had a .396 OBP, which correlates to his other seasons where he’s been consistently able to keep his OBP roughly 80 points higher than his AVG. If he can rediscover his power in the last couple of months and maintain the AVG, he’ll be crucial to the Cardinals playoff push.
Previous entries in the “3 Stories” series: Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners
