St. Louis Cardinals: Ranking the top Cardinal “killers” from the 21st century

ATLANTA, GA - APRIL 08: Left fielder Matt Holliday #7 of the St. Louis Cardinals is congratulated by shortstop Jedd Gyorko #3 after scoring in the fourth inning during the game against the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field on April 8, 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - APRIL 08: Left fielder Matt Holliday #7 of the St. Louis Cardinals is congratulated by shortstop Jedd Gyorko #3 after scoring in the fourth inning during the game against the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field on April 8, 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images) /
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MIAMI, FLORIDA – SEPTEMBER 10: Christian Yelich #22 of the Milwaukee Brewers at bat in the first inning against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park on September 10, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FLORIDA – SEPTEMBER 10: Christian Yelich #22 of the Milwaukee Brewers at bat in the first inning against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park on September 10, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

There have always been players that seem to just kill the St. Louis Cardinals no matter what pitchers do. Let’s rank the biggest Cardinal “killers” since 2002.*

*2002 was the decided upon year because of limited stats available that are split up by year and opponent.

I have decided to breakdown the top 10 St. Louis Cardinals “killers” (minimum of 75 plate appearances) of the 21st century by ranking them according to wRC+. For those who still do not know what this statistic is, it is (according to professional statisticians) the most accurate way that we have right now to determine a players overall value to a club’s lineup.

According to Fangraphs.com, wRC+ is described asa rate statistic which attempts to credit a hitter for the value of each outcome (single, double, etc) rather than treating all hits or times on base equally, while also controlling for park effects and the current run environment. wRC+ is scaled so that league average is 100 each year and every point above or below 100 is equal to one percentage point better or worse than league average.”

With that being said, there have been many players who have in the past and still do destroy the Cardinals and may make you wonder why they are not on this list. But I will stay loyal to the saber-metrics and give you the top 10 players in wRC+ against the St. Louis Cardinals since 2000.