NLDS Preview: Cubs vs. Cardinals Part Two

Apr 5, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher

(44) delivers a pitch during the ninth inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

Bullpen

I am not going to delve into every single pitcher here, as that would be too time consuming.

Cardinals: Trevor Rosenthal (2.10 ERA 48 saves) , Kevin Siegrist (2.17 ERA), Adam Wainwright, Seth Maness (4.26 ERA and 3.31 Skill Interactive ERA). That’s a ridiculously good tandem there. The Cardinals’ bullpen had the second best ERA in the NL at 2.82, second only to the Pirates at 2.67.

Cubs: Hector Rondon (1.67 ERA), Pedro Strop (2.91 ERA), Fernando Rodney (0.75 ERA w/Cubs, 5.54 w/SEA) is a pretty good tandem as well. However, their only guys with playoff experience in the pen are Rodney and Strop (11.05 vs. Cardinals)

Advantage: Cardinals. They have the experience and the more talented pitchers. Despite Rodney’s numbers with Chicago, they should come back down to earth and the Cardinals have gotten to him in the postseason before (see: 2006 World Series). Lack of experience and the experienced postseason hitters like Matt Carpenter and Matt Holliday should worry Cubs’ fans about their ‘pen and give ease to Cardinals’ fans about theirs.

There you have it. The preview for the 2015 Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals NLDS. This should be a fun series to watch. If you’re looking for a prediction here, I don’t do predictions in the postseason. It’s too random and I’d rather just watch the games than worry about making a prediction.

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