St. Louis Cardinals: Reinforcements are on their way

The St. Louis Cardinals battled and clawed their way to a 4-4 road trip in their return to action. Heading back home, the Cards are getting some guys back.

St. Louis Cardinals fans have been on a roller coaster all year. From starting play after the COVID break, the team going through two separate quarantines, and now a hide and seek offense, it’s been a lot.

However, through it all, the team is hanging in there. After starting the year 2-3 in the first five games, the Cardinals had a 17-day break from the action. In their return, the team just finished up an eight-game road trip that they played in five days. Any team having to trudge through that level of inactivity straight to full 100% is going to have some inconsistency.

Add to that the fact that in the past few days, the St. Louis Cardinals have had 11 different players make their MLB debut, and leaving that stretch of games at .500 is a great success.

Sure, there were opportunities to win more games. A pitcher pulled too late, opportunities not taken advantage of, going to the wrong guy in the wrong spot; the fact remains that I’m not sure many teams could’ve done what the Cardinals did over the past five days and performed as well as they did.

No matter how you feel about the St. Louis Cardinals’ return to play, they will be getting reinforcements as they return to Busch Stadium for an 11-day homestand.

Earlier this week, Yadier Molina, Paul DeJong, Edmundo Sosa, Kodi Whitley, Rangel Ravelo, and Carlos Martinez were all cleared to return to baseball activities. These players were all included in the first round of positives. All of these guys have had a chance to practice some at Busch while they await the return of the rest of the team.

Even though they all had a chance to practice some, it seems Molina could be the only one to return to the active roster on Thursday.

This is going to be an iterative process where the players have to balance wanting to return with making sure they return when they are healthy and back up to speed. It’s no surprise that Yadi is the first one to get back up to speed, but I applaud DeJong for taking pause and going to Springfield to get back up to speed.

According to Derrick Goold, Whitley, Sosa, and Ravelo are all due to take a “rinse cycle” through the alternate camp before they return to the active roster. This means we’ll see guys like Max Schrock, John Nogowski, and others for longer.

No official moves have been made yet, but it’s fair to assume that at least one player will be sent out with Molina’s return looking inevitable on Thursday. After that, it is safe to assume DeJong and the rest of the players who have been cleared could rejoin the club some time this weekend.

The whole identity of the team is changing rapidly as the roster ebbs and flows. How things will shake out in the end is anyone’s guess. For now, those that have stepped in have done a commendable job. The regulars returning should stabilize the team, but they are still well within striking distance for a postseason spot.