St. Louis Cardinals: The 2019 team is the real deal

This past weekend was a huge test for the St. Louis Cardinals. It is fair to say that they passed with flying colors and have proven themselves.

There were many times during May and June that many people didn’t think the St. Louis Cardinals would get anywhere this year. I was for sure one of them at times… The product on the field was terrible, the front office didn’t do anything to help it, and manager Mike Shildt was all happy talk after games acting like the team was up 8.0 games in the standings when they weren’t.

It didn’t feel like it meant anything at the time, but the team was just barely good enough to keep up with the stumbling Cubs and Brewers in the standings even though they didn’t deserve it. We all knew it was good the team kept up, but as I wrote here on July 2nd, it was all expected to come crashing down at some point.

If you have to keep waiting and waiting for something to happen, sometimes it just never happens.

After the Cardinals chose to do nothing at the Trade Deadline and headed out West to lose five straight games to the A’s and the Dodgers, they hit their low. Mid-July (44-45) may have been their record low, but after blown Trade Deadline and five straight losses, the team looked flat and uninspired.

Never doubt the effects of a poor opponent though.

After the Dodgers, the Cardinals played the Pirates, Royals and Reds and rattled off five straight wins. Whether that stretch was the catalyst or something else, that portion of the schedule led them to take off to have the best record of any team in the second half at 46-23.

The strength of opponent was never that great for the majority of August and September, and every fan with a brain knew the season was culminating to these final 10 games the team finds themselves in currently.

Nobody would admit it, but after losing their first series after nine straight wins to the Rockies, some people were sweating. Then after losing another series to the Brewers, the fun part of the schedule was gone. The Nationals were coming to town and the Cubs at Wrigley were right behind them. It was time for the rubber to meet the road and the team came through.

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After beating Stephen Strasburgh and Max Scherzer to win the Nationals series, they scratched, clawed, and fought to complete their first four-game sweep of the Cubs at Wrigley since 1921.

This past weekend could’ve broken the whole season as had the Cubs swept the Cardinals, the team would’ve found themselves out of the playoffs completely come Monday. Instead, the Cardinals stamped out the Cubs “dynasty” and likely put the final four nails in the coffin containing the Cubs postseason hopes in 2019.

The Cardinals passed the biggest test of the year so far with flying colors and while there are still issues with the offense at times, they deserve credit. From here on out until the team is eliminated from postseason play, it doesn’t matter what the team is, it doesn’t matter the talent they face, it only matters what the team does with their chance in the postseason.

The most talented team doesn’t always win the World Series and now that the Cardinals got in (especially if they win the Division), they have just as good of a chance as anyone to go the distance.