Cardinals fans aren’t alone in thinking their team is worse than everyone else does

Sometimes life happens, and I got behind on actually sharing this story I was working on, and I believe there's a bit of symmetry with that and the point of this piece. Sometimes baseball just happens, and every time the Cardinals go through a stretch of baseball that isn't fun to watch, it seems like there are some who press the panic button rather quickly.

The Cardinals were going through a rough patch prior to the Braves and Cubs series, and while the play of the field was certainly concerning, it's interesting how quickly many fans have turned around and written off the performance they showed earlier in the season.

I totally understand why there are people who believe the Cardinals will struggle more the rest of the season than they did to start the year. But there are many who are convinced that this recent skid is clear and convincing evidence that the Cardinals are not as good as their record suggests, and while it could be true, we've also already done this song and dance this season (more on that later).

I saw a clip from the Talkin' Baseball podcast on social media the other day, and former Major Leaguer Trevor Plouffe was chuckling at how fanbases were critiquing their latest power rankings, not because their team was too low, but because they had them too high compared to how they thought they were playing.

Fans of the Braves, Nationals, Red Sox, Mariners, and Cardinals were among the fan bases in the comment sections who couldn't believe their team was ranked as high as Talkin' Baseball had them, which just goes to show you how few fan bases tend to like where their team is sitting.

Ironically, it feels like national media is actually higher on the Cardinals most of the time than many fans are. Obviously, there are those who follow the team who are bought in, but there are many who remain skeptical. I'm not saying that's right or wrong, but I do think people need to remember that 5-12 game stretches are a small sample size in a season, and allowing one, two, or three series stretches to "prove" how a team is playing feels too reactive.

If you look around comment sections on Cardinals-related posts right now, there's a lot of angst about how the team is playing and "I told you so's" regarding the state of the team. Again, while the Cardinals could be breaking right now, it's also important to remember that they had two skids like this earlier in the year that had people freaking out, and they were just fine after.

The Cardinals have already overcome multiple rough patches this season

Multiple other times this year, the Cardinals have hit rough streaks on the field, causing fans to fret and write off their potential the rest of the season, but they were able to turn things around and get back on track.

Here are just a few examples of those:

4/20-4/26: 1-5 record against the Marlins and Mariners
Offense: .240 AVG (23rd), .308 OBP (23rd), .415 SLG (15th), 100 wRC+ (18th), 22 R (26th)
Rotation: 5.28 ERA (20th), 5.39 FIP (22nd), 30.2 IP (19th) 7.92 K/9 (16th), .330 BABIP (25th)
Bullpen: 4.64 ERA (19th), 4.04 FIP (11th), 21.1 IP (19th), 8.02 K/9 (16th), .323 BABIP (23rd)

5/17-6/2: 4-9 record against the Pirates, Reds, Brewers, Cubs, and Rangers
Offense: .226 AVG (23rd), .293 OBP (24th), .349 SLG (27th), 82 wRC+ (24th), 44 R (28th)
Rotation: 4.56 ERA (17th), 3.39 FIP (4th), 73 IP (21st), 9.99 K/9 (4th), .356 BABIP (28th)
Bullpen: 3.44 ERA (14th), 3.43 FIP (5th), 52.1 IP (23rd), 9.46 K/9 (5th), .298 BABIP (24th)

6/11-6/28: 6-10 record against the Mets, Twins, Padres, Royals, Diamondbacks, and Marlins
Offense: .257 AVG (9th), .327 OBP (11th), .402 SLG (22nd), 104 wRC+ (13th), 68 R (19th)
Rotation: 4.94 ERA (22nd), 4.19 FIP (15th), 85.2 IP (8th), 6.83 K/9 (25th), .319 BABIP (24th)
Bullpen: 6.08 ERA (26th), 5.86 FIP (27th), 53.1 IP (24th), 6.41 K/9 (29th), .265 BABIP (11th)

The Cardinals are far from the only team to have rough stretches this season. The Cubs have had a 10-game losing streak and went 3-8 over a different stretch; San Diego went 4-13 from the end of May to early June, and the Phillies went 4-16 during a large chunk of April. Every team has ups and downs - it's how they respond to those bumps in the road that matters the most.

The Cardinals have shown the resilience to turn things around at other points in the season, and so now, we get to see if they can do it again. So far, they've had two straight impressive responses against two of the best teams in the National League in the Braves and the Cubs, so five games against the Brewers and three more against the Braves this week will certainly be a massive test.

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