St. Louis Cardinals: Four unknown stats that lead directly to wins

As we prepare for playoff baseball, let’s look at four hidden stats that consistently lead to a St. Louis Cardinal victory.

Once again, the St. Louis Cardinals are in the playoffs. While there are a few games left to be played this week in Pittsburgh, all attention has shifted towards the wildcard round. Although the opponent is yet to be officially determined, either the Philadelphia Phillies or Milwaukee Brewers will be in St. Louis for a best-of-three game series.

We’ve already attempted to predict the roster for the upcoming wild card game and first-year manager Oli Marmol has many decisions to make about the starting rotation and bullpen for round one. Now let’s turn to the offense, and take a closer look at what makes the Cardinals so successful.

All season, the Cardinals have blended veterans with emerging talent. It’s been a constant mixture of lineups and platoons and hot streaks– navigating this shifting landscape has been a remarkable achievement, and may have been worthy of league-wide recognition for Marmol.

There are a few underlying numbers, however, that show consistent success for the St. Louis Cardinals all season long. The postseason is a different beast than the long grind of the regular season, but I believe these trends will be important to watch as the playoffs begin.

I’m sure there are other keys to the Cardinals winning, but for now, let’s focus on the lineup. From the superstars to the rookies, here are four key statistics that have been key to Cardinal victories.

*All stats recorded before games played on Monday, October 3rd*