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St. Louis Cardinal Baseball
by Patrick Austin
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| Mr.
Austin is a freelance writer who covers sports and health
for a number of web sites including RealGM.com, Hoopsworld.com,
and Fanstop.com. He currently also covers entertainment and
sports for Vainquer magazine. |
This St. Louis Cardinal baseball team had an incredible season
in 2004. They managed to lead the league in victories with
105 and made a strong postseason push all the way to the World
Series. Unfortunately, this collection of St. Louis Cardinal baseball
players couldn’t go all the way and were swept by the Boston
Red Sox. The Cardinals didn’t play horribly (thought there
were some blatant mistakes made), I believe it was just the Red
Sox year.
Even without a World Series championship, the Cardinals should
look back on this season fondly. No one was expecting them to
be so good, especially considering they had, at best, an average
pitching staff. It’s rare to see a team without dominant
pitching make it all the way to the Series, but this St. Louis
Cardinal baseball club relied on their strengths--solid, fundamental
play and a great offense. That combination helped compensate for
their lack of pitching depth.
This St. Louis Cardinal baseball team has a good chance to
contend for many years to come. They have a strong core group
of players that are locked in contract-wise. Just some of those
players include Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, and Jim Edmonds.
St. Louis is apparently in the running for Randy Johnson.
If they could find a way to make a deal and land the Big Unit,
this St. Louis Cardinal baseball club would be the favorite to
win it all. The only thing they are lacking is a No.1 pitching
ace. Randy Johnson would certainly provide that. Randy has gone
on record and said he would accept a trade to St. Louis. If a
trade were go down, the Cardinals would probably have to deal
away some young prospects and a couple of contracts to match Randy’s
large deal.
If they can’t land Randy, then they should try to go out
and sign some good free agent pitching talent like Russ
Ortiz, Jared Wright, and/or Kevin Millwood. Strengthening their
rotation needs to be their top priority. Since St. Louis isn’t
the biggest baseball market, they might have a tough time spending
money to get the players they need, but I hope management will
realize that a championship window isn’t opened forever.
You need to make bold moves in order to go all the way. Now is
the time for this St. Louis Cardinal baseball team to make a run.
If you’d like to find out more about St. Louis Cardinal
baseball, here are some good links…
ESPN-St.
Louis Cardinal Baseball Info
Official
St. Louis Cardinal Baseball Web site
St.
Louis Cardinal Baseball blogs
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