Major League Baseball

Three reasons to watch the Cardinals in 2015

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 8:46 p.m. ET

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Here’s the thing about the St. Louis Cardinals ... they’re always good, but they just don’t make a big production out of it. Oh, sure: In Cardinals Country, there’s a picture of Seth Maness on the wall in every barber shop. But outside of the Great Middle Midwest, who knows these Cardinals? In the first round of MLB.com’s FACE OF BASEBALL tournament, Yadier Molina somehow beat out America’s First Baseman, only to lose in the second round to ... Sean Doolittle?

Yes, Sean Doolittle. Hey, don’t laugh. Doolittle aced out Felix Hernandez, too. Some things must simply remain mysteries, for future generations to solve.

But while the Cardinals might not be peopled with household names, they do have a bunch of good players ... nearly all of whom were Cardinals last year, too. The current roster is overwhelmingly the same as the roster that carried the club to its fifth postseason in six years. It’s also a highly predictable group of players.

So why watch the Cardinals, if you’re not a Great Middle Midwesterner? Oh, there are reasons. Exactly three reasons.*
* Okay, a lot more than three. Please just go along with the conceit for a few more minutes. There will be karma involved.

1. Jason Heyward
Hey, you gotta tune in at least once, just to see Heyward wearing a non-Braves uniform. Didn’t he seem like a Brave-for-life, not really so long ago? Like, when he was destroying expensive things in batting practice? Or hitting a three-run homer in his first at-bat (video) in the major leagues?

But now he’s a Cardinal on the eve of potential free agency, and everybody wants to see if Heyward will hit again like he hit as a rookie ... five years ago. The good news for the Cardinals is that Heyward’s such a great right fielder – if you believe the latest metrics, anyway – that he doesn’t have to hit much to help the club. But it would be much better news if he could reverse, still at the tender age of 25, the alarming decline in his hitting stats since 2010. If Heyward doesn’t hit much, he’ll be a really good player who nobody (outside the Country) cares about. But if he does hit, you’ll be looking at America’s Right Fielder.

2. The Cardinals’ young starting pitchers
The Cardinals’ pitching rotation will, Good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise – and by “creek don’t rise” we mean the absence of torn elbow ligaments and other, less grisly maladies – be almost exactly the same on Opening Day as it was toward the end of last season. But there are a couple of question marks, and they’re both quite young.

Michael Wacha looked like a future star in 2013, and in the first half of 2014. Through his first 15 starts last season, Wacha had posted a 2.79 ERA, allowing only five home runs. But then came a stress fracture in his shoulder, knocking Wacha out of the rotation until September, when he made four relatively ineffective appearances. And a year after pitching brilliantly in the 2013 postseason, last fall Wacha was limited to just one brief outing. Before spring training, Wacha described himself as “extremely healthy” ... which of course is easy to say before spring training.

Just a few months younger than Wacha, Carlos Martinez is also slated for the Cardinals’ rotation. But Martinez has even less experience as a starter in the majors. Where Wacha has only nine major-league wins – not including that wonderful October 2013 – Martinez has only four.  I will venture that we’ve not often seen a divisional favorite relying on two starting pitchers who have combined for 13 W’s. If it works, though, it might be something to see!

3. Adam Wainwright’s body (or at least his curveball)
Okay, so two-thirds of our reason to watch is three-fifths of the Cardinals’ rotation. But there were concerns about Wainwright, whether justified or not, last fall. And now he’s got an abdominal injury that might prevent him from starting for St. Louis on Opening Day. So our advice is to keep an eye on Wainwright early; if he’s not in tip-top condition, things look a bit easier for the Pirates and maybe some other team in the Central. And if heis pitching like himself ... Well, himself is pretty interesting, seeing as how he’s finished second or third in Cy Young balloting in four of the last six seasons.

St. Louis Cardinals
2014 record: 90-72
Playoffs: Lost to San Francisco Giants (4-1) in NLCS
Projected 2015 record: 87-75*
Key additions: RF Jason Heyward, 3B/1B Mark Reynolds
Key subtractions: SP Shelby Miller, RP Pat Neshek, RP Jason Motte, IF Daniel Descalso

*Projected records courtesy of FanGraphs

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