St. Louis Cardinals: Five Things to Watch in First Chicago Series

Who’s going to make an early season statement?

In the same way that Pittsburgh made a statement when they stepped in and swept us to start the year, somebody is going to make a statement within the Central in this mid-April matchup.

Yes, I know that we play the Cubs (and Pirates) 19 times in 2016. Even with an early season setback, there will plenty of business to be handled on the baseball field all summer long.

But, having success against each of the other two squads in that three-headed NL Central monster is going to be vital to each team’s chances of taking the division crown.

The Pirates dealt the Cards a setback in the Pittsburgh cold a couple of weeks ago, regardless of how ready either team might have been after moving from the Florida heat to the Pittsburgh freeze box.

The Cardinals don’t want to dig a hole with the Cubs, too, and the Cubs want to jump on the Cards to follow up on their NLDS victory last fall.

It’s going to be high-drama baseball all season long between these three, as they should all have healthy records from feasting on the National League bottom-feeders throughout the summer.

The Cardinals won the season series with Chicago last year by a count of 11-8. The Cards won 7 of 10 at Busch Stadium, the site (obviously) of tonight’s series opener.

The media hype is here, and it is full of Cubs love. That’s just the way this thing is going to be. The Cubs are the latest craze, everybody has to give their two cents on how great they think are.

Here in a matter of mere hours, the Cubs and Cards will kick off what should be a fantastic  season series between two NL Central powers.

Next: Chicago series a big test for the 2016 Cardinals

P.S.

Of course there’s the whole Blues/Blackhawks thing going on between the two fan bases as well. To that, I have just one thing to say: Let’s Go Blues!!!