St. Louis Cardinals: Fans should temper expectations

The St. Louis Cardinals just flipped the script on the 2017 season. But what does that mean for fans the rest of the year?

After winning eight games in a row, and putting themselves in striking distance of first place, the St. Louis Cardinals have given fans a new lease on life. Not only did the team finally get over the hump of a .500 record, but they soared past it. As of today, the Cardinals sit one game out of first place, after flirting with first for about eighteen hours.

This is a phenomenal feat for a team mired in mediocrity for such a long time. If this team can build on this success going forward, this could be a very special year. This is where fans will need to take a collective look at this season and temper expectations. The ability to take a step back and appreciate what is happening will be key. We also need to understand things could turn just as quickly.

The success of the offense for instance has been remarkable. The breakout has been special and if it continues this team could go a very long way.

That being said, the key word is if. One prime example of “if” is Paul Dejong, the rookie masher who has stolen the hearts of fans and taken a hold of the three hole in a lineup desperately needing one. Dejong has yet to hit what some call “the rookie wall,” and to expect him to make it through the season without any prolonged struggle is not realistic.

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During the winning streak Randal Grichuk, who I wrote about recently here, was a key contributor. Can he keep that up?

While it realistically won’t be at the impressive pace he has been, Grichuk being a contributor for the team makes things a lot easier on the rest of the lineup.

Grichuk has been known to go into extended slumps. Avoiding another of those will be key.

Another huge element to this increased success comes down to the improved performances out of the bullpen.

The black hole of despair that this bullpen was just a month ago seems to have done a 180. Fans are far less stressed when the bullpen has to take over a game. Can Trevor Rosenthal stay dominant? Will Matheny continue to make smarter moves with the pieces he has available? If the bullpen’s success isn’t a flash in the pan, there’s promise going forward.

Next: Magic number to make the playoffs

These are all big questions that won’t be answered immediately and they of course are not the only questions facing this team. The response to what this team does after the streak was broken yesterday will be more telling of this team’s identity. Enjoy the good times because if the first half of this season taught us anything, those good times can go away for quite some time.