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Five Reasons the St. Louis Cardinals Can Win the World Series
The Bench we’ve been waiting for
How many times have the Cardinals entered the offseason claiming they are going to upgrade the bench and then get to Opening Day with a Pete Kozma, Tony Cruz, or Daniel Descalso still on the bench? I will answer this for you. Too many times.
We have been waiting for them to truly help this bench for a long time, and they kept trotting guys like Kozma out there. The Cardinals figure to enter Opening Day with a bench consisting of Tommy Pham, Matt Adams/Brandon Moss, Jedd Gyroko/Aledmys Diaz, Greg Garcia, and Brayan Pena. There’s not a player on this bench that I would replace, all are upgrades from what the Cardinals dealt with last season.
For far too long the Cardinals kept guys who were unimpressive and offered little to no relief to the starters, making the team vulnerable to injury and fatigue. This season will be different. This may not be the best bench in the league but it is certainly one of the best and it will be a position of strength for this team in many ways.
We won’t have to worry about the offense falling off when Yadier Molina needs a day off, we won’t worry about losing offense when Tommy Pham steps in for one of the outfielders. In fact the offense may even see a boost when he gets a start.
This is where the Cardinals will see the most improvement this season, and it will pay dividends come playoff time, it will help propel them to what I believe will be their 12th World Championship.
You can think negatively about this team all you want, but the more and more this team shapes up, I think we have something special on hand. The Cubs’ offense is good no doubt, but they simply don’t have all of the other pieces that the Cardinals have. The Pirates will be aiming to catch up all season, and I believe they will finish behind both teams.
Next: The Peralta injury will benefit the Cardinals
Regardless, your St. Louis Cardinals are poised for a great season, Cardinals’ fans. I hope you are as excited as I am about this season!