These 3 St. Louis Cardinals should receive midseason accolades

If awards were given in the middle of the season, these would be my three choices on the St. Louis Cardinals to take home the hardware.

Although anything can happen in the last two months of the regular season, it’s never too early to hand out some awards and give players a little recognition. For the surging St. Louis Cardinals, these three players should be acknowledged as major contributors to the team’s success and ability to chase down the Milwaukee Brewers in a fight for the top spot in the division.

Cy Young Award: Miles Mikolas

In a year where the Cardinals have struggled with starting pitching, Miles Mikolas has been a bright spot and the player whose success Cardinals have been trying to recapture by throwing darts at other players who have spent seasons in Asia. Aaron Brooks and, so far, Drew VerHagen haven’t worked out, but Mikolas has provided a steady presence and a chance for the Cardinals to win every fifth day.

Mikolas’ 2.92 ERA in 138.2 innings is second to his All-Star season in 2018, and he possesses a career-low opposing batting average of .222. His strikeout rate is a career-high 19.3%, and he continues to maintain an elite walk percentage. Mikolas leads the Cardinals’ starters in ERA, FIP and WHIP.

His unremarkable 8-8 win-loss record is more an indication of the lack of run support he often receives. While the pitching staff was recently bolstered at the trade deadline, it will be a priority to keep Mikolas healthy for the stretch run so he can pitch meaningful games in October.

Most Valuable Player Award: Nolan Arenado

While Goldschmidt has put up the best offensive numbers for the Cardinals this season, Nolan Arenado’s combination of hitting and fielding can’t be overstated. He plays one of the most important positions defensively, and he continues to be elite. While Goldschmidt has historically been an outstanding defender, his performance at first base has actually been below average this year.

Arenado’s walk-to-strikeout ratio is the best it has ever been in his career, not counting the abridged 2020 season. If we get deep into advanced stats, we can see his Weighted Runs Created Plus is a career-best 153, with 100 as the average.

The more widely known stats aren’t bad either: A batting average of .293 is his best since his penultimate season in Colorado in 2019, as is his .363 OBP, which is aided by the aforementioned career-best K/BB rate. This has been one of Arenado’s best years, and while Goldschmidt’s stats sparkle and shine to the casual observer, Arenado is the one over whom the sabermetricians will go gaga.

Goldschmidt, Mikolas and Arenado are the players seeing the most success for the Cardinals, but that’s not to take away from other high-performing players, such as Ryan Helsley, Tommy Edman and Adam Wainwright. The Cardinals have a shot to win it all in a year dominated by the farewell tours of Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols, and provided these three players remain healthy, I won’t count them out.