4 lessons the Cardinals can learn from the World Series champion Dodgers

The 2024 season is over, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are World Series champions once more. The St. Louis Cardinals are bracing for darker days ahead. As payroll cuts loom and a front office overhaul begins, here are four lessons the Cardinals can learn from the newest World Series champions.

Lesson 1 - Spending big is important, but so is spending smart.

It's no secret that the Dodgers were big spenders this offseason, and there's no way the Cardinals will ever reach the level of spending of the 2024 Dodgers, but the Cardinals actually spent more in 2024 on their Opening Day rotation than the Dodgers. The Cardinals didn't also sign Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernandez, but they spent similarly in terms of pitching. While LA was able to acquire high-powered names such as Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, they were also supplemented by homegrown talents in Bobby Miller, Walker Buehler, and Gavin Stone. Meanwhile, the Cardinals imported their entire rotation as free-agent acquisitions. Miles Mikolas earned over $17 million in 2024 and Kyle Gibson earned $13 million. Those two earned more in 2024 than the combination of Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Gavin Stone, a much more effective duo.

Of course, the Dodgers rotation would go on to suffer injuries to most of their arms throughout the season, but their next-man-up mentality and ability to churn out consistent pitching talent kept them afloat throughout the season. Rather than patching a broken development system with mid-tier free agents, the Dodgers were able to allocate their resources to a few All-Star caliber pitchers while supplementing their roster with quality arms from their pipeline.

Were the Cardinals able to churn out consistent talent for their rotation, perhaps they would've been in talks to acquire more of the top-end starting pitching options, rather than targeting arms such as Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson. The Cardinals may have had one of the most expensive rotations in baseball, but it certainly wasn't the best.

As payroll cuts begin in St. Louis this offseason, rather than lament the lack of spending, consider what the Cardinals may learn. Of course, spending big will become important as they look to get back into World Series contention, but this rebuild may help them spend smarter as well. This way, when payroll climbs back to normal, the Cardinals may have the flexibility to splurge on a big contract for a star such as Shohei Ohtani one day.

Lesson 2 - Winning on the margins is critical.

Even though the Dodgers defeated the Yankees in five games, the series was much closer than results would indicate. With two high-powered offenses full of MVPs, future Hall of Famers, and All-Stars, many were disappointed by how quickly the Bronx Bombers lost the series. However, nearly every Dodgers win came down to a few key plays where the Dodgers executed better fundamental baseball than the Yankees. As reported by the New York Post's Joel Sherman, Dodgers hitters were told "that if you run the bases with purpose and aggression, the Yankees will self-inflict harm" and "the value was very high to put the ball in play to make the Yankees execute."

In Game 1, the Dodgers forced extra innings on a pair of sacrifice flies by Will Smith and Mookie Betts. However, a runner was only allowed to advance to third base both times because of sloppy defense from right fielder Juan Soto. He was charged with an error when Shohei Ohtani advanced in the 8th inning but misplayed a liner off the bat of Kike Hernandez that was hit just 93.2 mph resulting in a triple earlier in the game. While Freddie Freeman's 10th-inning grand slam was ultimately the difference, the eventual World Series MVP never would've had a chance without Soto's defensive mistakes.

In Game 3, though the Dodgers dominated for most of the night, a perfect relay from Teoscar Hernandez to Will Smith to nab Giancarlo Stanton at the plate changed the entire face of the game. Stanton's poor baserunning killed a much-needed rally that could've given the Yankees a much-needed victory. With Alex Verdugo's eventual two-run shot in the 9th inning, the Yankees were much closer to staying in the series than the box score indicated.

Lastly, in the infamous 5th inning in Game 5, the Yankees completely unraveled. Judge's missed catch, Volpe's poor throw, and Gerrit Cole forgetting to cover first base let the Dodgers back into a 5-0 game that all but guaranteed the series head back to LA for Game 6. However, the five unearned runs allowed by the Yankees gave them just enough to return home to a parade rather than a game.

The Cardinal Way has long been synonymous with an emphasis on fundamental baseball, and they must return to that to remain a winning franchise. Players such as Brendan Donovan certainly help, but the Cardinals' overall dominance in both defense and baserunning has declined in recent years. Tommy Edman's dominance in the Postseason, helping the Dodgers win games on the margins, was the prime example of this. Unfortunately, it was the Cardinals who shipped him off to Los Angeles to thrive in his new environment.