St. Louis Cardinals drop in MLB’s most recent power rankings

The first two weeks of the regular season are in the books and even with such a small sample size, there are sure to be overreactions. MLB.com recently released a power rankings list and put the St. Louis Cardinals at No. 13 after ranking No. 10 to start the season.

The ranking, at least right now, feels fair for the Cardinals. They just lost a series at Busch Stadium to the Milwaukee Brewers. They enter Monday 5-4 and tied with the Brewers for second place in the National League Central with the Cincinnati Reds leading with a 6-3 record.

While the ranking may seem low, the Cardinals have the potential to far exceed this ranking as the season goes on. They are without Miles Mikolas, Kwang Hyun Kim, and Harrison Bader and should get the latter two back at some point in the near future, with Kim’s return appearing imminent. Their young outfield will get more accustomed at the major-league level and Nolan Arenado will become more comfortable in St. Louis.

It sets the Cardinals up to be a much stronger team as the season goes on, especially with their pitching staff. Mikolas and Kim will provide the rotation with even more depth, allowing the bullpen to get even deeper and help share innings to preserve their arms for later in the season and for a potential playoff berth.

The Cardinals, with all their question marks, are in a good spot at 5-4. Dylan Carlson is getting valuable playing time and has shown that he belongs in the majors. But the rest of the outfield is among the biggest concerns surrounding the team along with Matt Carpenter and he back-end of the pitching staff.

The Cardinals hope that time will allow the team, especially Arenado, to settle in. But as the season goes on, near .500 baseball won’t be good enough. The Arenado addition has set expectations at a playoff berth at the very minimum.