On September 27, 2022, with the Cardinals defeating the old rival Brewers of the National League Central District 6-2, the Immortal Birds won the season to 90 wins officially locked the Chinese New Year champion , and also won the 2022 season playoff tickets. This powerful team has once again topped the National League Central District since 2019. The next goal is just as head coach Oliver Marmol said: All achievements in season are intended to sprint towards the final championship, and enjoy this burning feeling!
Before the season adjustment, the red birds out of their nests
Strength and strong aid, trauma curse
Injury is still a fatal factor that plagued the Cardinals throughout the season. The shadow of only 2 people left in the starting rotation in the middle of last season is lingering. At the beginning of this season, the team clearly prepared as many as 8 pitchers who can compete for the starting. But who knew that Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty had a relapse in injury at the end of last season, and Matts' glass man attributes reappeared. Jordan Hicks, who is determined to be a starting pitcher, had poor control and was very useful. The Cardinals were once again in a dilemma of not being able to produce a reliable starting pitcher. At this critical moment, the breakout appeared on the stage —Adam Wainwright and Miles Mikolas.
As the only starting pitcher in the Cardinals' rotation last season, 40-year-old Wainwright got a one-year high-priced contract with his senior ace. This season, he still dominated the major league with his top-level drop bell. Mikolas, who was repeatedly injured in the past few years, returned to the King of this year. While regaining his 2018 form, he also returned to the All-Star ; the four types of are good at adding super stable ball control ability , making it difficult for the opponent to understand what type of ball he will be next and which corner of the good ball belt. His starter and innings ranked among the top two in the league. His season
At the same time, the team also knows that the outstanding performance of the two is far from enough to make up for the entire rotation defect; it is even difficult to hold on to the regular season, let alone what will happen to the playoffs. Before the trading deadline this year, the Cardinals made big moves as expected; they traded to get the strongest point in the Pirates' starting rotation, Jose Quintana (Jose Quintana); and Chris Stratton, who strengthened the Cardinals' mid-level bullpen.After Quintana came to the team, started 11 times and never had 2 points or more in a single game, with an ERA rate of only 2.11!
In addition, the Cardinals also made a deal that shocked the fans of both teams; they sent away the Golden Gloves midfielder Harrison Bader and exchanged the Yankee for the starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery! After being traded to the Cardinals, Montgomery won all the first four games and made his first final shot in his career and won the ! The Cardinals' golden infield especially prefers such excellent pitchers who stretch the ball and use defense to solve the opponent's batters; the arrival of these two people completely activates the entire Cardinals pitcher group.
Speaking of Cardinals bullpen pitcher, you must mention Ryan Helsley. The Cardinals' own child has stabilized the ball control this year and the ball speed has also increased significantly. With his already top four-stitch speed in the league, , has become a truly invincible bullpen pitcher. He is known as the Cardinal Hell Messenger and is at the forefront of the league in strikeout rate and space rate. Even the FIP of in the first half of the season was once negative ! The regular season shot 104 mph twice speed balls and became the fastest pitcher with the fastest ball speed of this season! Hullsley's outbreak this season has become the most stable link in the Cardinals bullpen. As the end of the season approaches, the comeback of Matts and Flaherty also gives the team more choices for playoff pitchers. has grown from no one available to everywhere, and the Cardinals' pitcher group is stable and outstanding.
New and old move forward together, save and strike
If injury is like a shower attacking the Cardinals, then hitting weakness is a chronic disease that tortures several seasons; but this year, the disease has finally been cured. First of all, Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, the All-Star player finally shines brightly at the same time, . Goldschmidt, who changed his bat in the offseason, dreamed of returning to the old Snake King time. The dominant strike data occupies the top spot in almost all the strike results of the National League. He won the best awards throughout the season. Although April and September feel cool, he is still a strong contender for the MVP of in the season.
Another one is Arenado, who came to the Cardinals to get thirty RBI results again in the second year . Compared with last year, the progress in hitting is visible to the naked eye, and the hitting rate throughout the season has remained at about 30%. The problem of not being able to play at home last year has completely disappeared. This season, with the super high WAR of
Secondly, the old strong fight ushered in a comeback! In his last year of his career, Phous returned home to serve as a designated blow. Just when people thought that Cardinals signed him was more sentiment than reinforcement, the active legend wearing Cardinals' robe was still invincible in the minds of fans. In the second half of the season, Phous broke out in in a familiar and unfamiliar way in . In less than two months, knocked out 14 bombs and quickly reached the milestone of 700 home runs in his career. More importantly, many of his scores in the second half of the season were key points for winning, reversing and ahead. They can be said to be the real big scene of ! In the playoffs, the Cardinals needed his ability to withstand high pressure to help the team score points.
The third element of Cardinals hitting a level recovery is rookie. It is very rare to maintain competitiveness while promoting a large number of rookies. This year's Cardinals did it, including Nolan Gorman and Juan Yepez, who provided excellent firepower for the team, and Brendan Donovan, who had excellent ball selection skills. Donovan has been able to maintain nearly 30% of his batting rate and about 40% of his batting rate this season, and his up base rate is the main reason why he has stood firm in the major leagues.Although his long-term play ability is weak, he has the ability to play any type of ball, and his attack rate against curve balls throughout the season is slightly lower than the league average. He has the top low swing rate, low chase and bad ball rate and high good ball contact rate in the league. Such a rare mature ball selection is the cardinals' need for the base artifact.
day from the wishes of people, safety and safety are easy
Although the journey in 2022 has twists and turns, the Cardinal who is good at dancing on the tip of a knife is very handy. There was no such thing as winning the Chinese New Year championship in 2019 until the last round; there was no such thing as squeezing into the playoffs after being suspended for three weeks in 2020; there was no such thing as winning 17 consecutive victories in the September Hell Schedule, which was full of strong opponents in 2021. This year's Cardinals established a significant advantage early on led the Guolian Central District .
This year's Cardinals scored The best regular season record since 2015 , which is a proof of strength. But there are also unexpected situations. The intermittent injuries of Golden Gloves against Tyler O'Neill throughout the season were a major blow to both the team's offense and defense. Although they are about to come back, there is not enough time before the playoffs to help him adjust his condition. It is still unknown whether he can help the team in October; the same is true for Hicks, who is about to come back. On the other hand, the regular season rookies helped the team usher in a qualitative change in attacks, but their level of defense is far from comparable to that of the Golden Gloves. How the Cardinals find the balance point in the offense and defense of the playoffs of is also a key point that head coach Marmore needs to carefully consider when playing the line in the line.
Looking at the National League, the Cardinals' overall strength is inferior to the Dodge Metropolitan Warriors, but this is the charming place of baseball or the charming place of Cardinals. Being favored has never been a tradition of Cardinals. This is a team that wins 83 times in the regular season to top the World Championship . This is a team that has two outs in the second half of nine games. It is a team that has two goals that have begun to reverse . This is a team that has with 11 World Championship trophys ... lives to death, and Nirvana in adversity is the ultimate mystery of the immortal!
At the last moment of his career towards the finish line, I hope that Yadier Molina and Puhous, who are experienced in the playoffs, can lead this Miracle team to the results they want! fans think where can this Cardinals go in this year's playoffs? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area to tell us~
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