2006 St. Louis Cardinals Predictions & Season Preview
June 5, 2008
If you want to know if our 2006 St. Louis Cardinals predictions show them making another run at the World Series, then read up. The Cardinals enjoyed a World Series birth in 2004, but couldn’t get back to baseball’s mecca as they lost to their division rival Houston Astros in the NLCS. The Cardinals had 5 less regular season wins, with 100, in 2005 than they did in 2004, largely because of inconsistent, uninspired play down the stretch. It’s never a good idea to be content and say that you can just turn it on come playoff time. This type of complacency is definitely something to look for down the stretch with both good and bad teams. Don’t let yourself take too many hits before backing off in this situation. The better plays down the home stretch of the season are games with something riding on them. St. Louis putting the remainder of the regular season on cruise control ultimately cost them as they fell to the Astros, who finished the regular season 19-11, in last year’s playoffs. If you can target when a team is in a slump as St. Louis was at the end of last season, you’ll be able to start going against them at the right time. And often times, especially so late in the year, the books won’t adjust, and we’ll be able to pick up nice wins on underdogs by going against high profile teams like the Cards. With that being said, I’m guessing St. Louis won’t fall into the same trap as easily this season. You can definitely expect the Cardinals to get off to a quick start right out of the gates as they are one of the best run-scoring teams in baseball. They continue to crush right handed pitching, only having one losing season versus right-handers over the last 7 years. With Pujols off to the best opening month of the season ever, you can count on another MVP caliber year from the Cards big first baseman. Look for your spots to cash in big when St. Louis is up against right handed pitching.
Good pitching usually has its way with good hitting as was the case in the NLCS when the Astros pitching staff dominated the Red Birds. The NL Central is stacked with great pitching and St. Louis probably has the 3rd best staff behind Chicago and Houston. However, St. Louis’ pitchers tend to over achieve thanks to great run support and that ultimately makes them look better as the Cubs can’t get their staff healthy, and Clemens is still a big question mark for Houston. Carpenter, Mulder, and Suppan all had 16+ wins, and I expect Marquis to join that club this season. The St. Louis Cardinals will be a good team to back this season as they always seem to bring their big bats and their pitchers are consistent. Last season the Cards surprisingly had the lower ERA at 3.49 in the National League and 4 of the club’s 5 starters had 10+ wins. You won’t find that kind of consistency on too many teams. But by the same token, you won’t find too many teams with an Albert Pujols who is good for 2-3 RBIs a game.