St. Louis Cardinals: Redbird Roundup Week 7

Nolan Gorman and Lars Nootbaar
Nolan Gorman and Lars Nootbaar | Maddie Meyer/GettyImages

This is the seventh edition of the Redbird Roundup: a weekly St. Louis Cardinals notebook, check-in, and your one-stop shop for important transactions, movement in standings, player trends, and more.

  1. Week 7 Game Results (5-1 in the week, 16-25 overall)
  2. One Paragraph Summary
  3. Cardinals Week 7 MVP: Nolan Arenado
  4. NL Central Standings
  5. Division, Pennant, and World Series Odds (via FanDuel Sportsbook)
  6. Injuries and Transactions
  7. Prospect Watch
  8. The Week Ahead (listed starters are probable)
  9. Week 8 Predictions

Week 7 Game Results (5-1 in the week, 16-25 overall)

  • 5/8: St. Louis Cardinals 3 - Chicago Cubs 1
  • 5/9: St. Louis Cardinals 6 - Chicago Cubs 4
  • 5/10: St. Louis Cardinals 4 - Chicago Cubs 10
  • 5/12: St. Louis Cardinals 8 - Boston Red Sox 6
  • 5/13: St. Louis Cardinals 4 - Boston Red Sox 3
  • 5/14: St. Louis Cardinals 9 - Boston Red Sox 1

One Paragraph Summary

The St. Louis Cardinals are still in last place in the NL Central. However, the outlook of the 2023 season looks noticeably brighter after Week 7 is in the books. The Cardinals grinded out five wins on the road, including a couple of 9th-inning comebacks in Fenway Park. Willson Contreras delivered clutch at-bats at Wrigley and Nolan Arenado (3 HRs in the last 3 games) continued to mash the baseball at Fenway Park. Luckily, no team in the NL Central is "running away" with the division. The Cardinals have a massive opportunity to further climb back toward the playoff conversation when they play host to the Brewers starting on May 15th.

Cardinals Week 7 MVP: Nolan Arenado

Dating back a couple of weeks, I mentioned that it would take consistent MVP-level baseball from both Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado to dig the Cardinals out of their early season hole. The past few weeks, Goldy was hot and now Arenado joined the party. The Cardinals All-Star 3B recorded at least one hit in all five games he played in this week. He tacked on 8 RBIs and 3 HRs to raise his season OPS above .700. Look for Arenado to stay hot in the upcoming weeks.

NL Central Standings

1. Milwaukee Brewers 23-17

2. Pittsburgh Pirates 22-19 (1.5 GB)

3. Chicago Cubs 19-21 (4.0 GB)

4. Cincinnati Reds 18-22 (5.0 GB)

5. St. Louis Cardinals 16-25 (7.5 GB)

Division, Pennant, and World Series Odds (via FanDuel Sportsbook)

To win NL Central: +380 ($100 wager wins $500)

To win NL Pennant: +2100 ($100 wager wins $2,100)

To win World Series: +4500 ($100 wager wins $4,500)

Injuries and Transactions

News: OF Dylan Carlson left the Sunday Night Baseball game against the Red Sox in the second inning. Cardinals' manager Oli Marmol said it was likely a sprain of some sort. RHP Andre Pallante was recalled from AAA Memphis on Tuesday with LHP JoJo Romero optioned back to Memphis.

10-day / 15-day IL: OF Tyler O'Neill, RHP Jake Woodford, LHP Packy Naughton, and INF Jose Fermin

60-day IL: RHP Wilking Rodriguez

Prospect Watch

  • Cardinals' top prospect, OF Jordan Walker, reached base four times on Sunday including three hits. So far in 57 ABs in AAA Memphis this year Walker is slashing .197 / .319 / .600 with only one HR and 6 RBIs.
  • RHP Tink Hence returned from the IL with another impressive outing; striking out 5 batters across 3 scoreless innings. So far in the 2023 season, Hence has not allowed a single earned run in over 10 innings pitched.
  • I can't stop talking about Luken Baker in the Prospect Watch. Baker hit 2 home runs on Friday. His slash line through 134 at-bats for AAA Memphis: .313 / .449 / 1.143 with 14 HRs and 36 RBIs.

The Week Ahead (listed starters are probable)

  • Monday, May 15th: vs Milwaukee Brewers (Peralta vs Flaherty)
  • Tuesday, May 16th: vs Milwaukee Brewers (Miley vs Montgomery)
  • Wednesday, May 17th: vs Milwaukee Brewers (Burnes vs Wainwright)
  • Thursday, May 18th: vs Los Angeles Dodgers (TBD vs TBD)
  • Friday, May 19th: vs Los Angeles Dodgers (TBD vs TBD)
  • Saturday, May 20th: vs Los Angeles Dodgers (TBD vs TBD)
  • Sunday, May 21st: vs Los Angeles Dodgers (TBD vs TBD)

Week 8 Predictions

This will be a gut-check week for the St. Louis Cardinals. Last week I predicted that the team would go 4-2 and they actually went 5-1. This week I will go for a conservative prediction of 4-3. I think they start out flat Monday, get a strong showing from Monty on Tuesday, and then get shut down by Burnes on Wednesday. It's hard to predict the Dodgers series without knowing Starting Pitching for sure, but I am feeling a 3-1 series win against LA and another overall productive week.

If you have ideas for items that you would like to be included in the weekly Redbird Roundup do not hesitate to reach out! Leave a comment or DM @HenryFitz16 on Twitter - any and all feedback is welcome.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

Schedule