St. Louis Cardinals: Outlook for the optimistic 2017 fan

The St. Louis Cardinals 2017 season has been a long ride to say the least, but is there a realistic chance we can salvage our year like the 2011 World Series Championship team?

As of August 5th, 2017, the St. Louis Cardinals sit 4.5 games behind the Chicago Cubs in the division, and a lengthy 9.5 games behind the Colorado Rockies for the second wild card spot. Even for the optimistic fan it can be tough to spin a positive view on what has been a grind of a season, but I think I know a great memory to start.

Let us take a trip back to the 2011 season. I know, cliché right? However, what if I told you our situation today was much better than it was for the 2011 World Series Championship team.

Going back through the MLB.com standings by date, one can find that on August 24th, 2011, the St. Louis Cardinals found themselves a measly 4 games over the .500 mark, a hefty 10 games back of the Milwaukee Brewers in the division, and 10.5 games back of Atlanta Braves in the wild card. I should add this is also prior to letting two teams into the postseason through the wild card.

In 2011, our playoff odds were abysmal. Many projections gave us no love at all including a projection from Cool Standings stating that the St. Louis Cardinals had a 1.3 percent chance of making the postseason on the date of August 24th, 2011.  In comparison to this year, as of August 5th, 2017, Fangraphs has the St. Louis Cardinals at an 11.5 percent chance of getting into the postseason.

Ultimately, I am not going to make people believe this is a World Series team we are presenting on the field. Although, we should see the history of the 2011 team as the saying goes, “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.” Let us not be fooled again with the 2017 team because this time, it will be on us.

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Clearly, we are going to need some luck on our side to make this comeback happen, just as 2011 did. The Colorado Rockies or Arizona Diamondbacks are going to have to be plagued by something that allows us to put the pressure on for the wild card at the least before September. Whether it is a key injury or they just play mediocre baseball for a little stretch it does not matter. It is a must for them to repeat what the Atlanta Braves did for the remainder month and half of the 2011 season.

On the other side of the ball, the St. Louis Cardinals must figure out a lineup that plays more consistently. We have seen recently the horrific struggle to score runs, costing us some close games.

Maybe with the addition of Dexter Fowler here soon, we can get some guys out of our lineup, like Randal Grichuk and Stephen Piscotty, who have plagued us with strikeouts and poor play. At the end of the day though, it is going to take a plethora of our hitters to get hot all at once.

Our starting pitching has been great, but our bullpen is in disarray still. We have seen glimpses of players starting to break out of their season-long funks but then quickly turn back the other direction, like Brett Cecil as of late.

Seung-hwan Oh and Trevor Rosenthal have started to pick up the pace, and they are going to be the foundation of the 2017 comeback for the bullpen. However, we need some more pitchers to follow their lead. We need to bridge the gap between the great starting pitching and the end of the game.

Next: Cardinals can still make an impact

For the comeback to happen, there is  a lot that needs to change. I am willing to ride this out until September before I throw in the towel because I have seen crazier things happen in 2011. The 2017 St. Louis Cardinals though, are down to their final strike, even for the optimistic fan.