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St. Louis Cardinals: The week that was according to us
The St. Louis Cardinals kicked off the 2018 season this past Thursday and despite the rocky start, we never missed a beat covering the news. Let’s take a look back at the week that was on our site.
The St. Louis Cardinals allowed the New York Mets to disappoint the start of the 2018 season but not all is to be discouragement. This past week brought many pieces of news and we covered them all here at Redbird Rants.
All of the positives of spring- and some of the negatives (e.g. Adam Wainwright starting the season the DL)- pushed the St. Louis Cardinals from Roger Dean to the airport and on to Toronto for their two exhibition games against the Blue Jays. The Cards took 1-of-2 from the Blue Jays and then released some big, big news.
Before we get to that, however, let’s look at the order of news from this last week.
The very busy week kicked off with Tito’s review of the MLB top-10 lineup listings and the absence of the St. Louis Cardinals from that list. Tito shared his frustration with the Cardinals’ absence and argued that elements of our lineup are strong enough to justify an appearance.
Related Story: Cardinals not on MLB top rotation list
Following his almost-rant about being absent from MLB’s top-10 lineups, Tito turned his eyes to finding five positives for the 2018 season. This is a kick-off of his series seeking positives for the Cardinals and for all of us in Cardinal Nation.
Related Story: Five success keys
One of the bright stars thus far in the young St. Louis Cardinals’ season has been Luke Weaver. Weaver had an outstanding spring and looks to be a leader in the rotation. Larry suggests that Weaver will be an All-Star for the Birds on the Bat this season.
Related Story: Weaver will be an All-Star
As the start of the season approached, Brian joined the positive bandwagon and suggested his take on the five things needed for the St. Louis Cardinals to have a successful season.
Related Story: 5 keys to success
Last Tuesday was a very special day for us here at Redbird Rants as we kicked off a new installment branch of our podcast– Extra Innings. This extension will feature specials with members of the St. Louis media and Tito gave the details of episode one of this new series. Click the link below to have a listen.
Related Story: Extra Innings episode one
As Opening Day grew ever closer, FanSided released a gift buying guide for any and all Cardinals fans. Want to know what to buy? Click below to learn of all the great St. Louis Cardinals items for sale through FanSided!
Related Story: Opening Day gift guide
Part two of his positive look at the 2018 St. Louis Cardinals had Tito examining the bullpen. Will the additions of Bud Norris and Dominic Leone impact the Cardinals in a positive way?
Related Story: Five key positives, part two
The St. Louis Cardinals surprised us all when they announced that Jordan Hicks would make the Opening Day roster. Would he be used as the closer in the wake of Luke Gregerson to the DL? Josh shared the roster news.
Related Story: Hicks on Opening Day roster
Speaking of expansions at Redbird Rants, we are thrilled to bring fantasy baseball news and analysis to our loyal readers. Kicking off this expanded portion for us was Josh who took a look at the St. Louis Cardinals players and their value in the fantasy market.
Related Story: Cardinals fantasy baseball
In the wake of Carson Kelly being sent to minors, one of our newer writers- Matt Graves- suggested that fans should pump the breaks when thinking of prospects. He wrote these feelings in response to fans who took umbrage at Kelly’s demotion.
Related Story: Emotional prospects
In the wake of all the positivity, I suggested five ways the 2018 St. Louis Cardinals would not have a successful season. If you’ve read any of my writing, you know that I blame much of the Cardinals’ lack of success on Mike Matheny. Think he might have been the focus of this piece?
Related Story: Keys to an unsuccessful season
Part three of Tito’s positive view of the impending season focused on the St. Louis Cardinals offense; scoring early and often; and on the superstars on the team and their inherent importance.
Related Story: Five keys, part three
Part four of Tito’s positive view of the 2018 St. Louis Cardinals lands on the Cards performing better in the NL-Central than they did in 2017. This, he notes, will make all the difference in the world.
Related Story: Five keys, part four
Turning his attention to the bullpen, Russ urged that 2018 might just be the season in which Brett Cecil settles into his role and bounces back from his rough 2017. Furthermore, Russ suggests that the Cardinals bullpen is made better if the 31-year-old performs to his early numbers.
Related Story: Cecil bounce back
Just one day before the official start of the 2018 season, Matt took a daring look at the NL-Central and made some bold predictions for the outcome of the competitions within the very critical home of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Related Story: NLC predictions
And just when everyone thought the St. Louis Cardinals were finished tweaking their roster- just one day before the official start of the season- they made a few moves to clear spots. On Wednesday of last week the Cardinals designated Breyvic Valera and Josh Lucas for assignment. Christian shared the news.
Then Opening Day hit us. All the promise of the upcoming season had finally come to a head. And with its arrival, the Opening Day lineup was released. I covered the news early on Thursday.
Related Story: Opening Day lineup
Opening Day itself was very quickly eclipsed by the breaking news of the St. Louis Cardinals finally solving their closer need by signing Greg Holland. All of baseball collectively stopped and turned their attention to the Cardinals and Josh covered the breaking news.
Following the disappointing showing the Cardinals posted on Opening Day, we drowned our sorrows together in our weekly podcast. Season two, episode six aired on Opening Day night.
Related Story: Official podcast 2.6
Before the first pitch was thrown on Opening Day, Dan took us all on a memory journey of his first trip to spring training this past spring. His nostalgia reflected the good of baseball before the Cardinals fell that afternoon to the Mets.
Related Story: Nostalgia of spring training
On of our promises this season is to bring our readers recaps and reactions following each game. Opening Day was the responsibility of Tito and he shared his frustrations and positives from the Opening Day fall.
Related Story: Opening Day recap
Joining Josh in writing some of our first pieces examining the 2018 St. Louis Cardinals as they relate to fantasy baseball was Larry who examined the Cardinals hitters and their value in auction leagues. This is just a start in what is more to come.
Brian was so disturbed by the mercurial nature of some St. Louis Cardinals fans that he penned a piece extrapolating all of the positive elements from Opening Day. These elements, while not all clicking at the right times, show that the Cardinals have promise that would show themselves in the days to come.
Related Story: Positive takeaways
To wrap-up our week, Zach predicted that- despite his rocky start- Carlos Martinez would win the NL Cy Young award in 2018. He is the Cardinals’ ace and should the young guns continue their push, then their challenge should be enough to push Martinez into greatness.
Related Story: Martinez Cy Young
Whew… What a week. What a week indeed.
We are so happy to bring you the news and opinions and glad to be your go-to location for all St. Louis Cardinals rants. Thanks for joining us.
Opening Day is Thursday and we will have another live recording of our podcast on that night so don’t miss that! Thanks for reading and thanks for reviewing any articles you might have missed this past week. Go Cards!