For all of the talk about how great the Chicago Cubs have been as we reach the midway point of the baseball season, what has gone under-reported is that there actually is a race going on in that division.
The second place team, the St. Louis Cardinals as of Monday June 30 is only two games behind Chicago in the National League Central loss column.
How could this be? In a season where the national media has been infatuated with all things Cubs, it has been the surprise of the Cardinals that has caught the division and league off guard.
What are they doing correctly? Starting pitching. However, not how the team drew it up at the beginning of the season. The team has been besieged by injuries to their top three pitchers. This has left them with a rotation consisting mostly of castoffs and failed relief pitchers that have been able to convert and become serviceable starters.
Kyle Lohse was wanted by no Major League team when spring training started. The Cardinals, who were simply looking for enough pitchers to fill out their staff, took the chance on Lohse and hoped he could be able to provide innings and be a #4 or #5 starter. They are waiting for veterans Chris Carpenter (ligament replacement) and Mark Mulder (shoulder) to return from injuries that have kept them out for most of the last 365 days. What they have gotten was much more than they ever could have expected. Now, Lohse is 10-2 with a 3.67 ERA. He has established himself as one of the primary anchors of the staff and a prime candidate for an All Star Game appearance in New York.
Whatever pitching coach Dave Duncan is doing, it is working. He is the best at his craft. The ability that he has turn pitchers that have played the role of indentured servants in baseball and turn them into success stories. One the most memorable of all was his ability to unlock the potential that Jeff Weaver always had, but never showed. In 2006, Weaver was struggling with the Los Angeles Angels and his younger brother Jered, replaced him. The Cardinals picked him up and showed slight improvement toward the end of the season. It was in the postseason where he would shine. Helping the Cardinals to a surprise trip to the World Series, Weaver pitched two outstanding games, including the clinching Game 5 to give the Cardinals their tenth world championship.
This time, with Lohse, converted relievers Braden Looper and Todd Wellemeyer, youngster Mitchell Boggs, and another journeyman, Joel Pineiro, the Cardinals have done more than stay afloat. Adam Wainwright is due to return in late July, and once all of them are healthy and pitching, they will appear to be in prime position to challenge for another World Series berth.
Offensively, they survived the loss of Albert Pujols. Ryan Ludwick and Rick Ankiel have picked up the offensive slack creating a formidable 3-4-5 trio. Ludwick is among the NL leaders in OPS (.940), while Pujols was on his way to another “Typical Pujols year” before injuring himself two weeks ago. Also, young Skip Schumaker has made a positive contribution.
The problem currently is the bullpen. 18 times the starting staff has handed the bullpen a lead only to have it lost. It can be argued that if only half of those saves were converted, they would be in first place right now. As it stands, getting the final nine of outs of the ballgame have proved to be difficult to navigate.
Ryan Franklin has stepped up to be one of the leaders as Jason Isringhausen works through a knee injury that will appear to put him on the DL. The Cardinals feel they have people in the minors who can come up and fill the role. We will find out as the summer plays out.
As the rest of the National League flounders, it appears likely that the Cardinals and Cubs will the only two teams standing at the finish line. These two longtime rivals have never been very good at the same time to make their rivalry meaningful (which is why they should never be compared with Yankees-Red Sox), now have a chance to do just that.
Perhaps this year we will see the first Cardinals-Cubs playoff series with a World Series berth at stake.
The National League…pass the air freshener
Maybe I should ask MLB for some of my money back.
Over the last five years, I have slowly been watching the deterioration of National League baseball on my MLB Extra Innings package with the satellite.
Before, being able to watch good teams like the Cardinals, Braves, Giants, and on occasion the Astros, Mets and Dodgers, would make a night a baseball must see viewing when the Yankees game was either not on or the game was over and I needed something to watch before heading to sleep at night.
Unfortunately, over the last few years, most of the teams I mentioned are filled with mediocrity. Unable to get out of their own way on the field and littered with incompetence off it. Now when I come home and look at the schedule for the night and there is very little in terms of interesting games.
My simple conclusion is that these teams are just not any good. Perhaps that is just a knee-jerk reaction. But it is difficult not to notice the quality of play has not been the same as in recent years.
Translation: These teams stink.
The standings in the National League point that out. The Arizona Diamondbacks as of today lead their division by two and a half games despite being 41-41. In the NL East, the Phillies, who should be at least seven to ten games ahead of their nearest competitor are only one game ahead of the Florida Marlins and are only five games over .500 themselves. At least the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals have brought some respectability to the league with their records, but the rest of these teams are borderline unwatchable.
How did this happen? Where did a once competitive league turn into the competition for the tallest midget?
My theory is that it has been a combination of the financial advantage that American League teams have and a lack of ingenuity and intelligence from National League executives.
When the Yankees were dominating baseball in the late 1990’s and early into the 2000 decade, they forced competing teams to spend more money in order to compete. The Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles decided to go toe-to-toe with the men from The Bronx and failed miserably. Both of those teams would spend large sums of money on premium free agents and in the end would barely see 80 wins.
The Boston Red Sox decided they would use their resources to their advantage and started to spend, starting with dealing out 160 million for Manny Ramirez. By 2004, the Red Sox had the second highest payroll in the league.
With two teams on top, the Los Angeles Angels, Chicago White Sox and Seattle Mariners decided to get in on the fun. Suddenly, the American League had seven of the top 10 payrolls in the league. Add to it, the ability of the Minnesota Twins and Oakland A’s to use their funds wisely and develop their farm systems began to tilt that advantage even further.
While this going on, teams as Atlanta and San Francisco slowly began to break down. The New York Mets would spend money, but would find themselves in the same boat the housed Texas and Baltimore years before. The Philadelphia Phillies were simply devoid of intelligence. Other major market clubs like the L.A Dodgers and Chicago Cubs chose not to spend their money despite making high revenues each season.
Only the St. Louis Cardinals have been the most consistent winning team in the NL over the last eight years. They have reached the playoffs six times. Participated in the League Championship Series five times and the World Series twice.
Because of the watered down nature of the last few years, the National League has opted not to spend big sums of money because outside of the Mets and now the Cubs, no one else is. If 85 wins can get you into the playoffs, what is the purpose in spending 125 million in payroll when you can spend 90 and take your chances on the result? This is why the NL has not won an All Star Game in the last 10 years.
The spending discrepancy shows up in the lineups that these teams present when interleague play takes place. The lack of good lower place hitters is magnified and exploited in such a way that most of the League cannot effectively compete.
If NL GM’s were smart, they would take the model from the AL and construct their lineup “one through eight” instead of “one through six”. With the lack of good offenses, it has inflated the numbers of most pitchers making them better than what they are. Because of the lack of spending, you see lesser quality players in lineups therefore making these games and teams unappealing and force you to look for other programming.
One would hope that they would eventually figure this out. Do not count on it. Adaptation is often hard for some baseball teams. It is especially true when money is involved.
Call me when the National League playoffs start. I might be interested then.
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