St. Louis Cardinals: One Giant Problem in St. Louis

The St. Louis Cardinals are used to October magic swinging their way, but the San Francisco Giants have knocked them out of contention for the third consecutive even year.

Adam Wainwright lives for moments like Sunday. Entering the final game of the regular season, The St. Louis Cardinals trailed San Francisco by one game for the final wild card spot, and the leader of the St. Louis pitching staff was set to take the mound.

The 6’7/235 lb. right-hander entered play with the third highest hits allowed total of his career, and his highest career ERA by over half a run. Nonetheless, his presence on the mound felt appropriate. Despite struggling in his 11th big league season, folks in St. Louis know him as the ultimate competitor, and they trust him with the season on the line.

Waino looked sharp early. He only needed one pitch to retire lead-off hitter John Jaso, and he followed that with a three pitch strike out of Gregory Polanco. Things were off to a great start in St. Louis—if you hadn’t checked the Giants score yet.

San Francisco jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the first inning was over in either ball game, and Cards’ fans around the country were quickly reminded of the truth: The fate of the season wasn’t up to Wainwright.

A win for the Cardinals was consequential if, and only if, the Dodgers were able to win one more for Vin Scully. Brian Roberts started his best lineup and gave the ball to Kenta Maeda for the final start of the regular season. Starting opposite Maeda was lefty Matt Moore, and that was a bad sign for St. Louis.

The Dodgers have eight lefty position players on their roster. Joc Pederson, Corey Seager, Adrian Gonzalez, Chase Utley, Josh Reddick, Andre Ethier and Andrew Toles are all lefties and they’re all impact players on this Dodgers lineup. Not surprisingly, Los Angeles hit a league-worst .215 against left-handed pitching.

That effect was on full display on Sunday, as Moore limited the Dodgers to just one run on three hits over 8 innings. The Giants needed only two innings to jump out to a 5-run lead. Roberts began to pull his starters from the game, and the Dodgers never found their offensive spark. After 161 games of thrilling action, game 162 in the National League was void of drama after all.

This marked the third consecutive even year that the Giants extinguished the hopes of a championship in St. Louis. Sure, this latest case was indirect, but even if the Cardinals erased the gap on Sunday, San Francisco still stood in the way of a playoff birth in a rare 163rd game. This is officially a pattern. One that manager Mike Matheny has to be fed up with.

Matheny’s late October clashes with San Francisco date all the way back to his playing days. In 2002—another even year—Matheny was the starting catcher for a St. Louis team who was playing for the National League Pennant. The Giants, led by Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent, defeated them in 5 games.

After Tony LaRussa retired, Matheny made his managerial debut in 2012. The Cardinals won 88 games that year, and advanced to the NLCS, where they were able to jump out to a 3-1 series lead against San Francisco. A second straight World Series appearance seemed inevitable, but the Giants handed the Cardinals a taste of their own medicine, and seized control of the October magic.

San Francisco engineered a devastating comeback, winning three straight, before eviscerating Detroit for their 7th World Series title—their second in three years.

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Matheny got another crack at the Giants in 2014, but again St. Louis was on the wrong side of destiny. Despite an anemic offense, the Giants tore through the Cardinals, needing only five games to advance. Travis Ishikawa of all people sealed the deal with a walk-off home run, in a moment that reflected the San Francisco season as a whole. They would go on to win the World Series for the third consecutive even year.

Are you sick of San Francisco yet? You should be. The last time the Cardinals were able to flip this script and eliminate the Giants from postseason contention was 1987—an odd year.

If the last half decade has taught us anything, it’s that Cards fans won’t have to worry about San Francisco next season. 2017 is an odd year, so the Giants are bound to fall flat on their face and miss the playoffs entirely.

Regardless, the Cardinals have to get their own affairs in order if they want to improve on this finish. Although they appeared to be that close in the standings, the reality is this team was far from playoff-ready.

The St. Louis Cardinals pitching simply wasn’t good enough this year, and as we prepare to say goodbye to Matt Holliday, we’re also forced to be realistic about the remaining timetable for the careers of Wainwright and Yadier Molina.

Neither the bullpen nor the rotation project to be much better next year without some serious activity from John Mozeliak. Will Jaime Garcia be back? How much is too much for Brandon Moss? What will next year’s infield and rotation look like? Are there any external options the Cardinals can pursue to improve this offseason? There are many questions to be answered as the Cardinals head into the offseason.

Next: Two Games That Absolutely Matter

For all of your St. Louis Cardinals news, analysis, and speculation, stay tuned to Redbirdrants.com. The baseball season may be over, but ours never ends. There’s no offseason here.