The St. Louis Cardinals are good. Are they THIS good?

The St. Louis Cardinals are playing a high level of baseball right now. Will they be able to keep it up or are they destined to regress?

The St. Louis Cardinals are red hot. They are playing some great baseball currently and are poised to position themselves in the driver’s seat in the National League Central division. The starting pitching has been more consistent, the offense is starting to click, and the team has jumped into first place. The Cardinals are a good baseball team. But are they this good?

There are reasons to expect this stretch to continue. Well, the Cardinals are unlikely to continue winning ten out of every twelve or so games, but the point stands.

Dylan Carlson has emerged as one of the best rookies in the league and has found success after being moved up in the lineup. Nolan Arenado has been as good as advertised, on both sides of the ball. Paul Goldschmidt is heating up after a slow start. The list goes on. The ingredients are there for this to be a great team. Right now it’s all blending together into a delicious stew. Cardinals fans can take a big whiff and begin to drool. What’s not to like?

I don’t want to be negative, and I’m as intrigued by this St. Louis Cardinals hot stretch as most anyone. However, there is a huge point to be made here. They’re playing bad teams.

Sure, give the Cardinals credit for sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates and at a minimum taking the series against the Colorado Rockies. They also split a series against the talented yet struggling New York Mets. But let me call it how I see it. The Cardinals are being opportunistic here. Hey, it’s not their fault. They didn’t make the schedule and besides, every other team in the division will have to play these same opponents at some point. The Cardinals are doing what good teams do and that is beating the bad teams.

Against their own division, the Cardinals have both won and lost a series against the Cincinnati Reds, swept the lone series against the Pirates, and lost a series to the Milwaukee Brewers. They have not yet played the Chicago Cubs but will get that chance later this month. The division could come down to who plays the best against each other. It could also come down to who made the most of their opportunities against bad teams.

The St. Louis Cardinals having a series against both the Pirates and Rockies, probably the two worst teams in the National League, so close together help them build a solid stretch of results. The team did sweep the Reds and split with the Mets, so that’s nothing to scoff at. Basically, the point is that some of what the Cardinals are doing right now has to do with the subpar competition.

That’s not to say the team isn’t clicking. Tommy Edman has emerged as an incredible leadoff hitter and getting on base in front of Goldschmidt and Arenado tends to equal good things for the offense. As I recently wrote, Jack Flaherty has positioned himself as a top contender for the Cy Young award. There’s a lot to be excited about as a St. Louis Cardinals fan.