It’s Cardtober

It’s October and it officially means postseason baseball.
Sep 25, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams (53) makes a play against the Washington Nationals at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Nationals 4-1. Image Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports
What we do know is that Allen Craig is not available during the National League Division Series against the National League Wild Card winner. While I would prefer that Craig would have not been injured, I have nothing against Matt Adams getting some more playing time.

In September, Adams had 92 at bats over 25 games. In those 25 games, Adams hit .315/.344/.609. Not including Adam Wainwright hitting .500 in September, Adams had the third best month for a Cardinals player. Matt Holliday led position players with a .378 batting average while Matt Carpenter was second with a .349 batting average.

Adams led all Cardinals players in September with eight home runs. With Carlos Beltran‘s contract expiring and talk that Oscar Taveras might not be completely ready to take over one of the corner spots, it’s not surprising to think of the possibility of Craig moving to right so that Adams could start at first base. It could be a temporary thing until Taveras is ready but the facts are facts: Adams cannot be relegated to a bench player role. It’s not fair to him.

Meanwhile, take a look at this chart at MLB.com. The Cardinals lead all postseason teams with 18 homegrown players on the 25-man roster. How about that?

Only five players were acquired via trades: Wainwright, David Freese, Holliday, Edward Mujica, and John Axford.

Two players were signed by the Cards as a free agent: Beltran and Randy Choate.