St. Louis Cardinals: End of season team awards

The end of a season is often sad especially when the St. Louis Cardinals aren’t playing in October. With the end, though, comes a recognition of successes during the season.

Now that the St. Louis Cardinals baseball season is over, it’s time to give out our team awards for the season. Even though there’s not a trophy or money in it for the winners, they do get clubhouse bragging rights for the entire 2019 season.

Reliever of the Year: Carlos Martinez

I’m not going to lie, I was tempted to throw you guys off and give this award to new manager Mike Shildt, who has done a fantastic job since taking over as manager for the Cardinals just before the All-Star break. Though he has done a great job, Carlos Martinez was excellent out of the bullpen this season.

If you told me on Opening Day that Carlos Martinez would win this award, I would have laughed, then laughed even more. Injuries played a huge cause in sending Martinez to the bullpen to end 2018, but he definitely stepped up when needed.

After his second trip to disabled list, Mike Shildt announced that Martinez would return to the bullpen instead of the rotation. Coming out of the bullpen, he had a very impressive 1.47 ERA, and when Bud Norris started to fall off a cliff and lose his role as closer, Martinez stepped up in the closer role and went five-for-five in save opportunities.

The bullpen was very shaky for the Cardinals this season. Though Martinez will return to the rotation in 2019, he did an excellent job and stepped up when we needed it the most. Hence why he is your Redbird Rants Reliever of the Year.