St. Louis Cardinals: 2016 Dear John Letter Part One

The 2016 St. Louis Cardinals season has been frustrating, for sure, and my level of frustration is reaching an all-time high.  Only two weeks remain in the season and the Cardinals need to either get it together or start planning for next season.

A dear John letter is written to a once-loved person as the author is exiting the scene.  In light of the continuation of the St. Louis Cardinals‘ up-and-down (but mostly down) season, I’ve decided the time has come to write a dear John letter to this season.

Dear John (a.k.a 2016 St. Louis Cardinals), you know I have the greatest amount of love for you but I’m just worried that we aren’t working for the same thing here anymore.  You know that I started this relationship (this season) with the highest hopes.

I wanted to believe in you.  I wanted us to have a great year together.   Some of this year has been good, I admit, but lately I just feel that everything has gone awry. Let me explain my worries to you.

As I said above, I feel that we had a good start to this year.  My memories of the start seem pretty good but when I look back, in all honesty, I’m not so sure about this.  I wanted to believe that we had great hope coming out of the spring but now that I look back I remember the debacle that was the signing of Ruben Tejada.  I also remember too many injuries.  So maybe we didn’t get off to a great start after all.

Remember when we faced the Pirates at the start of the year?  I wanted this to be a good start but we were swept by them, remember?  Remember how they had signed our close friend (and one-time St. Louis Cardinals third baseman) David Freese?  Remember how we should have signed him but didn’t?  Remember too how he hurt us in that series while we were unable to muster offense?

I wish I could say there was a time this year when you loved me enough to get yourself into first place in the NL Central, but I just cannot say that.  Okay, okay, I’ll admit that the Chicago Cubs ran away with things from the start but I just never felt like you were working very hard to make a challenge for them.  Did you never love me enough to work hard for the top ranking?

And let’s talk a moment about how cruel you were to me at home.  Why and how were you so nice outside of home but were so mean at home?  Why was it that you were able to win on the road but lose at home?  Did I do something wrong?  I worked hard for a long time to make home (Busch Stadium) the welcoming place for the best fans in baseball yet this wasn’t good enough for you this year.

You tried to love, I know, by giving me gifts in the way of surprising players.  I know you tried to show me your love through the efforts of players such as Aledmys Diaz and even a great season by Yadier Molina. These were nice but they weren’t enough when you gave me tarnished jewels such as Jhonny Peralta and Matt Adams.

And don’t even get me started with the frustrations you created in me when you gave away gifts you had given to me.  I was so sad when you allowed Eric Fryer to depart so that you could keep the slumping Brayan Pena.  Let me inform you that currently no Cardinal (sample size effect for sure) has a better batting average than Fryer obtained when he was with us.  My heart hurts.

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As we are now only two weeks away from the end of the season, I need you to know that others are trying to woo my attention.  In recent weeks I have been contacted by college football and even the NFL trying to take my away from you.  This is not something new as these suitors often try to woo me each year but I’m usually so enamored by you that I don’t sway.  This season, my dear St. Louis Cardinals, I’m thinking of swaying early.

Let me be clear: I want you to succeed.  I want us to have a long love affair this year but you don’t seem to want this to be the case.  You should have shown me your love by winning games in San Francisco but you lost the first two in very weak fashion.  I thought you were going to lose last night too but somehow managed to fight back in the end.

Even last night’s game, though, shows why I’m exhausted by this year: I just don’t understand how you can muster a fight at the eleventh hour but have shown little-to-no fight in the hours leading up to this.  Why must you string me along with the promise that you might pull it together at the end?  Why can’t you just fight hard from the start?

You do have powerful charms, St. Louis Cardinals, as I am sure that I will continue to watch you even if you are completely out of it.  I will very likely resent you for this power but will love you nevertheless.

Next: Season Rests on Road Trip

Please do me a favor and decide if you are going to try to win or if we should all focus our attention on our love affair to return next spring.  I promise to write you again soon so look for part two of this letter to come soon.