While the Cardinals on offense have been all but miracle workers so far, surviving very slow starts by Ivan Herrera and Masyn Winn, and a bottom of the order that often includes the far below league average hitting of Pedro Pages, Nathan Church, and Victor Scott II (not to mention Nolan Gorman still not living up to his potential).There have already been attempts to alleviate this bottom of the order problem, but Thomas Saggese can’t hit either, apparently.
To be fair Herrera has been the victim of
hitting it right at guys and just general bad luck (while walking a ton and getting on base the hard way through HBP), and Winn just was still warming up from spring training or slumping to start the season. The big surprise of the year has been Jordan Walker, who leads the team in WAR, home runs, and RBI. Burleson, Gorman, Wetherholt, and Herrera have joined in the RBI fun as well.
Surely the Cardinals haven’t been winning just because the top 4 batters in the order are getting on base a ton? Not everyone gets on base a lot but the outfield defense with guys like Victor Scott II, Nathan Church, Thomas Saggese (who has some good defensive numbers so far), and Jose Fermin plus Jordan Walker’s arm in right…
Add to that the best defensive second baseman so far in MLB, JJ Wetherholt, and the elite defense and arm of Masyn Winn, plus Nolan Gorman and Ramon Urias saving even more runs over at the hot corner, and effective catching… you’re just going to keep yourself in some games this way. Has anyone noticed Gorman has saved a couple of runs so far on defense? But you didn’t see that one coming. He’s defending better than Urias but not hitting as much. Gorman is starting to turn it around, slowly, on offense. His BABIP against is pretty low too.
What Cardinals have played in the most games? Before Tuesday, Burleson, Herrera, Scott, Walker, and Wetherh0lt have all been in 22 games. Nolan Gorman has only had 1 game off. Nathan Church is getting a good amount of playing time. Winn got hit by a pitch badly enough to make him miss a few games. Saggese, Pages, Fermin, and Pozo have all played in less games than the other position players. It’s time to get Fermin more playing time!
Perhaps coming with the territory of a young team, the Cardinals have been good on the basepaths this year in baserunning value. JJ Wetherholt, Jordan Walker, and Masyn Winn have combined to go 9 for 9 in stolen bases *mostly JJ Wetherholt and Jordan Walker. The offense could carry this team somewhat, when they also provide good defense. The Cardinals have been one of the best defensive teams in baseball so far in 2026.
Now that Nathan Church has 2 home runs, I am starting to come around on an idea: Nathan Church in CF, and Jose Fermin in LF. This makes Victor Scott II the 4th outfielder, which is ok. He is still useful for now.
The pitching overall is what makes this team anxiety-inducing. The starting rotation will struggle HARD just to be mediocre. The floor is rather low. But the bullpen is what has given many fans the heebie-jeebies. What kind of hope do we have with this kind of pitching staff? When the offense slumps, it’s going to get ugly!
- Matthew Liberatore has pretty darn good active spin rates on his changeup and curveball, his curve being one of the most impressive with total movement
- Sweepers! Riley O’Brien, Justin Bruihl, and Dustin May all have really good spin rates with their sweepers
- Ryne Stanek has the most active spin rates on his 4-seam fastball in all of MLB! …and 2nd most with his split-finger fastball… in all of baseball (if you’re wondering why they signed him, there you go)
- In addition to Liberatore… Graceffo, Pallante, and May have thrown curveballs with a lot of total movement
- Bruihl, Romero, and McGreevy have all been throwing sinkers with a good amount of sink… McGreevy’s slider and sweeper have been working pretty well for him, too!
That said, as a staff, Cardinals pitching has been ineffective so far in 2026. Too many walks, hits, and therefore runs given up. They are not striking anyone out. You might think it’s the bullpen, but the starting rotation has been as bad or worse. At least the bullpen has the stellar performances of Riley O’Brien and JoJo Romero. Maybe Gordon Graceffo will keep helping to put out fires.
Can the Cardinals continue to compete without much pitching? That is tough to say… no one saw this coming. The competing, that is! They are on the verge of another series win, if they can pull it off this afternoon. I mean, this morning? and afternoon! the game starts just after 11 AM today.
I leave you with the question, what happens when Hunter Dobbins is promoted to the rotation? 6 man at first, maybe, but then?
1987
I went hiking at Little Grand Canyon and a couple other trails in Shawnee National Forest in southern IL, and got home hours later than expected, so nothing but music this week… The trails and hiking weather were incredible!
- Melvins – ‘Gluey Porch Treatments’ the Melvins reinvent the punk sound with a whole new approach that most people will never hear (and won’t want to)
- Sonic Youth – ‘Sister’ Sonic Youth define their sound and a whole new generation of alt rock here!
- SLAB! – ‘Descension’ the true definition of a hidden gem band, also a one and done album band, no followup needed, just absolute crushing devastation and an utterly unique, one of a kind sound that influenced Godflesh and whoever else was lucky to even hear it
- Swans – ‘Children of God’ goth rock masterpiece that also brings in elements of metal, industrial, and punk from Michael Gira and crew
- Dinosaur Jr – ‘You’re Living All Over Me’ one of my favorite guitar shredders and some of Dino Jr’s best songs, sign me up! Another band that arrived at their sound in 1987 and helped to shape the future.
- Death – ‘Scream Bloody Gore’ speaking of shaping the future, this album pretty much laid down the blueprint for the extremely bountiful genre of death metal… maybe it’s not Death’s best album, but it’s their most to the point
- Faith No More – ‘Introduce Yourself’ Chuck Mosely’s last album with Faith No More goes out on a high note
- Motorhead – ‘Rock ‘N Roll’ is one of my favorite Motorhead albums (I guess I like the ones with crappy production), but especially check out the song “Blackheart”, it’s a key Motorhead track!
- Bathory – ‘Under the Sign of the Black Mark’ the best sounding early black metal album, raw, crazy, Bathory at their best, blows away the ones before it; this would be the album that influenced the Norwegian black metal movement the most
- Napalm Death – ‘Scum’ another new subgenre of heavy metal was invented with this album: grindcore!
- Ramleh – ‘Hole In The Heart’ some call it obscure genres like “power electronics” or “death industrial” but it’s definitely paving new territory for the future, whatever you may want to call it
- Poison Idea – ‘War All The Time’ perhaps one of the most punk things you’ll ever hear
- Butthole Surfers – ‘Locust Abortion Technician’ well, except for the Butthole Surfers at the top of their game
- Pentagram – ‘Day of Reckoning’ if you like Black Sabbath, Pentagram picked up the torch in the 80s, and their singer is absolutely insane, probably more than Ozzy Osbourne… this is one of their better albums
- Sonny Sharrock Band – ‘Seize the Rainbow’ Sonny Sharock did the music for Space Ghost, and he had an 80s jazz rock band! this is a fun listen if you like guitar weirdos
- Sepultura – ‘Schizophrenia’ Sepultura is becoming the top tier metal band it would ascend to here, but on Schizophrenia they are still so young and ferocious, Brazil’s main heavy metal exports’ 2nd album
- Bernd Kistenmacher – ‘Wake Up in the Sun’ German synthesizer wizard’s soundcape that will take you to outer space, but come back, I don’t think waking up in the sun is survivable!
- Dead Can Dance – ‘Within The Realm of a Dying Sun if you do wake up in the realm of a dying sun, maybe this soundtrack to it will save you! Dead Can Dance add in a bunch of classical musicians here
- Opal – ‘Happy Nightmare Baby’ super obscure psychedelic rock from 1987 that I enjoyed finding a ton
- D.R.I. – ‘Crossover’ DRI were becoming pretty big for a crossover punk heavy metal band! 1985’s ‘Dealing With It’ started to put them on the map, but with Crossover, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles would crank out an album every year to end the 1980s
Honorable mentions
- Tom Waits – ‘Frank’s Wild Years’
- Amebix – ‘Monolith’
- For Against – ‘Echelons’ just a random band I found from Lincoln, Nebraska who made a top notch 80s postpunk/alt-rock album, check it out! band name sounds like a hardcore punk band from the late 90s, but it’s not
Ok, thanks for reading! Hopefully I will have a little more substance next week but there are some interesting things to talk about! Until 11am or whatever. If you want something to bite your nails about, Kyle Leahy pitches today, then Andre Pallante and Matthew Liberatore will pitch when Brendan Donovan and the Seattle Mariners come into town Friday and Saturday!
