St. Louis Cardinals: The best during the bad fade with more to come

The St. Louis Cardinals are fading out of the discussion this season but there are glimmers of hope that fans will miss if mired in complaints.

The St. Louis Cardinals had all the hope in the world after a positive August and after the front office finally dismissed Mike Matheny. The honeymoon was fantastic and the club was flying high.

I’ve written about this too much already so I’m not going to belabor this but allow me to say just this: I believe that, in addition to many other variables, the expanded rosters of September weighed down the St. Louis Cardinals of 2018. Was it too much for Mike Shildt?

Look, let’s shove the negative aside and allow me to put the light on the positives that I could easily miss if I become mired in the other things. First up, a new and energized manager. Mike Shildt did an amazing thing with a club that Matheny was seemingly unable to muster– he won games.

I look for this trend to continue in 2019 and beyond.

Adding to this love of Shildt is the fact that he is 100 percent not afraid to fight for his club. Evidence was loudly displayed during Tuesday night’s game. When Matt Carpenter was ejected (probably rightfully so since he argued balls and strikes), out popped Shildt and he followed Carpenter. This was the work of a real manager and was something that fans rarely saw under Matheny.

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The second positive that we fans need to remember is the youth movement that is coming from the St. Louis Cardinals. Yes, the club could go out and purchase a big bat (and maybe they should) but the likes of Jack Flaherty, Dakota Hudson, Tyler O’Neill, Adolis Garcia (despite his stumble tonight), and Daniel Poncedeleon– just to name a few- should excite plenty about the future.

The future will likely begin in 2019. To me, players like Patrick Wisdom and Austin Gomber are sure-fire additions to the Cardinals in their efforts for the future. Knowing that the farm system is stocked should give us all some solace from what is clearly a disappointing finish to what was a disappointing season.

Looking ahead then, the St. Louis Cardinals will likely welcome back some incredible players in the way of Matt Carpenter, a healthy Marcell Ozuna in a contract season, Harrison Bader, the return of Dexter Fowler to a manager who is capable of getting the most out of him, a healthy Kolten Wong, a not-broken-appendage Paul DeJong, and Yadier Molina flying high off this great 2018 season numbers.

Fans, while this season is a disappointment, we can know that change finally came and I trust that more will be in store for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Am I too hopeful? Are there other areas of hope and promise that I missed? Either way, I’m going to hold out hope that this year’s team can disrupt some of the Cubs’ joy in the final series of the season.