Predictions for the St. Louis Cardinals 2022 season

Dane Aerne-Moore (@dane_a_m)

MVP: Paul Goldschmidt

Paul Goldschmidt has routinely been a slow starter in his STL tenure. Should his white hot spring carry over into the regular season Goldschmidt could very well bring home his first career MVP. His defense has always been unquestioned, last year’s Gold Glove backed that up. Should he start hot, a triple slash of .300/.400/.600 is not out of the question with 35+ bombs.

Cy Young: Giovanny Gallegos

With Jack Flaherty missing time this year, I believe Gallegos has the best chance of any Cardinals pitcher to come home with the Cy Young. Gallegos quietly had a dominant 2021 season, striking out 95 hitters over 80 innings with a 3.02 ERA. Should he become a touch more stable and consistent, it isn’t unreasonable to imagine that Gallegos comes up with an ERA under 2.00 over 85 or so innings.

X-Factor: Albert Pujols

Albert Pujols is now on the wrong side of 40, and was my favorite player when I first learned to talk. Now I’m allowed in bars and Albert is back in a Cardinals uniform. I’ve said in the past that the Cardinals haven’t had great pinch hitters. But I wouldn’t want to be the pitcher throwing to Albert with 2 outs in the 9th with the game on the line.

Two sentence team evaluation: This team isn’t good enough to win it all. But it will be the most enjoyable to watch since our 100 game winner in 2015.

Bold prediction: Nolan Gorman finishes 3rd on the team in HRs

Gorman will finish third, behind Goldschmidt and Tyler O’Neill. We should see him up sometime shortly after Super 2 status runs out. I predict that he takes the 2B job and runs with it on his way to Rookie of the Year consideration.