St. Louis Cardinals: The Nationals might just be the better team

The St. Louis Cardinals are on the verge of elimination as the Nationals have them pinned with a 0-3 deficit in the NLCS. Is this it for the hometown team?

Before Monday night’s game, there was exactly a 12% chance that the St. Louis Cardinals could come back and overturn the two-game lead the Nationals had heading back to Washington for Game 3. After a disappointing 8-1 loss on Monday, the Cardinals sit in a spot that only one team in MLB history has been able to overcome.

The 2004 Boston Red Sox (a team that Cardinals fans should know well) were down 0-3 in the ALCS against the New York Yankees before they eventually went on to not only win four straight against the Yankees but then swept the Cardinals in the World Series. They were the only ones in history to make it out of the spot the Cardinals are in.

The 2004 Red Sox were nothing like the 2019 Cardinals though. That offense was anchored by a combined 84 homers and 269 RBIs from David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. Both finished top-five in MVP voting. They were also led by Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez in the rotation who -also- both finished top-five in Cy Young voting that year. These teams are nothing alike.

I apologize if this writing seems dry or unemotional, but that’s how this team has made fans, including myself, feel. The energy was high going into the series, but such a depressing and feeble performance from the team we have watched battle all year is hard to watch.

It was clear coming in that the Cardinals were facing a different animal in the Nationals than what they faced in the Atlanta Braves. The Braves were an offensive giant but didn’t quite have the pitching and defense the Cardinals did. That led to the Cardinals being able to shut down their bats and ultimately win.

Facing off with the Nationals, both teams are built to do the same things. With Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, and Anibal Sanchez in the rotation and an emphasis on defense, the Nationals are also pitching and defense-focused. But, they are much better at doing it than the Cardinals. On top of that, the Nats have a better offense too.

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The Cardinals are being beaten at their own game. The pitching of the Nationals has come down on the offense like a thick, suffocating fog.

The Cardinals starting pitching has done well enough, but the simple fact is that it doesn’t matter how well they pitch if the offense can’t do anything.

At the end of the day, the 2019 Cardinals got farther than everyone thought they would, and an NLCS appearance is nothing to be sad about, even if they do end up getting swept. The team knows exactly where they need to improve, and this series is showing just what that is.

So the team will give the ball to Dakota Hudson on Tuesday and see if the rookie can keep the team alive against Patrick Corbin, a slow-pitching lefty.

The Cardinals are now sitting with the odds stacked squarely against them. If NLCS Game 4 is it for 2019, it was a good season that ended with a very disappointing stretch. If they win tonight, if they make it competitive, more power to them. The odds say they won’t make a comeback, but until they actually lose, nobody knows what will happen.