The Divisional Gauntlet Awaits the Cardinals

Cardinal Chronicle
The Divisional Gauntlet Awaits the Cardinals
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

The Cardinals did not lose the I-70 Series on Sunday; they lost a chance to enter the most important stretch of their young season with a little extra cushion.

That may sound like a small distinction in May, but with the National League Central already bunched near the top and a divisional gauntlet waiting on the other side of Monday’s off-day, small distinctions can start to matter quickly.

St. Louis remains firmly in the race. The Cardinals are 27–19, still positioned as one of the early stories in the National League and close enough to make a serious move before the calendar turns to June. But Sunday’s 2–0 loss to Kansas City served as a timely reminder: the Cardinals have played their way into contention, and now they have to prove they can handle the weight that comes with it.

Nobody wins a division in May. But plenty of teams begin revealing themselves before Memorial Day.

For the Cardinals, that process begins now.

After Monday’s scheduled day off, St. Louis opens a three-game series against Pittsburgh at Busch Stadium, followed by a weekend trip to Cincinnati, a three-game stop in Milwaukee and a home weekend series against the Cubs. That is 12 of the next 13 games against NL Central opponents, with only one off-day, May 28, separating the Brewers and Cubs series.

That is not just a schedule. That is a measuring stick.

The Cardinals have spent the first seven weeks proving they are more than a pleasant early-season surprise. They have won games with late offense, survived uneven starting pitching, leaned hard on the bullpen and found enough production from a young, developing lineup to stay in the thick of the division race.

Now comes the question every contending team eventually has to answer.

Can they keep doing it when the games begin to carry more weight?

Sunday’s loss was not alarming by itself. Good teams get shut down. Good pitchers lose games they deserve to win. Baseball has a way of humbling a lineup just when everyone starts talking about momentum. Andre Pallante gave the Cardinals a start good enough to win, but the offense never found an answer against Kansas City right-hander Stephen Kolek, and Salvador Perez supplied all the scoring the Royals needed.

That happens over 162 games.

The timing, however, matters.

The Cardinals are stepping into a stretch where quiet bats, missed chances and defensive mistakes will carry more weight because every game is against a club either ahead of them, near them or close enough to pull them backward. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are trying to stay attached to the race. Milwaukee and Chicago are trying to control it.

The Cardinals are trying to prove they belong in the middle of that fight.

The first test comes Tuesday against the Pirates. Pittsburgh is in the race and those are the kinds of games contenders are expected to handle at home. A club with division ambitions cannot afford to let winnable home series slip away, especially when more difficult assignments are waiting on the road.

From there, St. Louis heads to Cincinnati, where no lead at Great American Ball Park ever feels quite safe. The Reds remain close enough in the standings to matter, and that ballpark can turn an ordinary inning into a crooked number before a manager can get his bullpen moving.

Then comes Milwaukee, the kind of series that will tell more than a box score. The Brewers remain one of the division’s measuring sticks — a club built around pitching, defense, pressure and execution.

For the Cardinals, winning there would carry more weight than simply taking another series. It would be a statement that this start has staying power.

After an off-day, the Cubs come to Busch Stadium for a three-game weekend series to close the month. Cardinals-Cubs at Busch Stadium, late May, with the division beginning to take shape — that is the kind of baseball St. Louis was built for.

The standings will not be settled by June 1. That is not how baseball works. But the tone of a season can change in a hurry, especially inside the division.

For the Cardinals, this run is about more than gaining ground. It is about proving the early surge was not built on smoke and mirrors. It is about seeing whether the young core can handle division heat. It is about whether the rotation can give the club enough length, whether the bullpen can continue absorbing leverage and whether the lineup can avoid the kind of shutdown games that leave strong starts unrewarded.

The Cardinals do not need to sweep through this stretch. That is not the standard. But they do need to play winning baseball against the clubs that will decide their summer.

They have earned their place in the conversation. Now they have to earn the right to stay there.

The National League Central is not waiting until August to reveal itself.

It starts Tuesday.

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports