Five Reasons the St. Louis Cardinals Can Win the World Series

Holliday back to the same ole Holliday

I know my colleague Michael Miles talked about what happens if Holliday doesn’t make it through the season healthy, and that is a very real possibility. However, I want to tell you that I believe Holliday makes it through the season this year. Holliday is a physical specimen and takes rigorous care of his body. Holliday does have an injury history with the Cardinals, but they are fluke injuries that don’t concern me about his overall ability to be healthy.

When Matt Holliday went down with a quad injury last season, it did not spell doom for the Cardinals’ consistent producer in left field. His leg didn’t fall off and he doesn’t need a cane (as he told Fox Sports Midwest’s Jim Hayes). Yes there is a smidge of concern regarding the back tightening from earlier, but Holliday was actually at first yesterday and nothing was said regarding him having anymore back issues (I think that was code for I don’t want to play today).

However, one thing is for sure. Matt Holliday will be back to being a competitor and a consistent performer for the Cardinals. The only projection that does not have Holliday with a wRC+ above 120 is ZiPS and that projection is 119. These projections actually have Holliday pegged for 15-17 homers for the Cards this year, which will be welcome for the Cards.

The biggest thing Holliday will bring is his OBP, which was at .417 before he went down with his first quad injury. Yes, the power was down (10 Doubles, 3 Homers), but Holliday should be in good condition to get at least 30 doubles and 15-20 homers, which is fine.

Getting Holliday’s consistency back into the lineup will be a good reason why this team can have a better offense this season. I think that when we get to the end of the season, we will find that with Holliday’s numbers helped the offense get over the hump.

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