The Summer season has a certain beat…a certain rhythm…but then there always seems to be a SUDDEN EXCITEMENT IN THE MIDST OF SUMMER.

….While it seems like Hockey ended months ago (it actually did the for the Blues), the Stanley Cup Finals always bring a SUDDEN EXCITEMENT in the midst of summer. Florida JUST WON the Stanley Cup over Edmonton Oilers by beating them 5-1 in game 6. It was a terrific series, in the first 5 games in this championship series, there were 3 overtime games!! The Oilers were in their 2nd consecutive Cup final so experience tilted their way. Sam Reinhart scored 4 goals in the final game, becoming just the 6th player in league history and first since Maurice Richard in 1957 to get that many in a game in the final series.   It seems to me that EVERY NHL champion has at least ONE super-star goal scorer. Yes, the Goal keeper is important but…ya gotta score goals to win!!  Florida is the NHL’s first back-to-back winners since Tampa Bay in 2020 and ’21 and only the third team to do it this century!

…Apparently, hockey fans didn’t sense much excitement in the Championship round of the NHL Finals. Canadian fans don’t need an extra EXCITEMENT. They just have it in their bones . Sooo…there are annually terrific viewing numbers in Canada. But not so much here in the USA. The Stanley Cup viewership numbers for the first four games across TNT and truTV: Game 1: 2.4m viewers; Game 2: 2.5m viewers; Game 3: 2.3m viewers; Game 4: 2.6m. There are over 250m people over 18 years of age in the USA. That’s about 1% of the people watching in the USA! Hockey still is…probably always will be… a Canadian sport.

…SUDDEN EXCITEMENT took place this week as the USA named their initial round of hockey players for the 2026 Olympics. The U.S. named Matthew and Brady Tkachuk, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, Quinn Hughes and Charlie McAvoy as its first six players for the Olympics. Can you imagine playing in the Olympics with your brother or watching two of your sons? Congrats to the Tkachuk family!

…as long as we’re talking hockey…what’s going on with the Blues this summer?  They have made a few transactions…not real EXCITING ones…but steps toward improving the team.  Blues acquired a conditional 5th-round pick in the 2026 draft from the New York Islanders for Defenseman– Scott Perunovich. The Blues terminated forward Brandon Saad’s contract, and he was placed on waivers. The NHL draft starts next Friday, June 27th. At this moment, the Blues have the 19th pick of the 1st round. The Blues better really “Hit a Home run” with that pick because their only other picks in the draft are in the fifth-round (No. 147) and the sixth-round (No. 179).

….In the past, it sometimes seemed like some of the MLB games were dragging along.  Often they’d be close to, or even longer than 3 hours. Not so in 2025, the pitching time clock has speeded up the game and the enlarged bases and a tilt towards speed has brought back the stolen base mentality with much more excitement!  MLB 2025 games are shorter and seemingly with more action.  The average length of a MLB game in 2025 is 2 hours, 40 minutes! That’s 24 minutes (on average) shorter than the games in 2024!!

… There seems to be lots of EXCITEMENT on the base paths in 2025. Base-stealing has again become a frequently used offensive weapon all across the entire MLB. In the 2024 MLB season, there were a total of 3,617 stolen bases. This is the highest number of stolen bases in a single season in 109 years, according to MLB.com. The success rate of stolen bases also increased, jumping from 75.4% to 79% compared to the year before the rule changes.  As of today (June 19) there have been a total of 2,454 stolen bases in MLB. The Tampa Bay Rays have the most stolen bases as a team with 97. Individually, Jose Caballero leads the league with 27 stolen bases, according to StatMuse.  It’s clear that this EXCITEMENT of speed & stealing bases is “back” in favor with MLB teams. From my eyes, the teams seem to be drafting, developing athletes not just players who can hit a baseball.

…a player who has generated all types an EXCITEMENT of interest in baseball is Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani returned to the pitching mound for his inaugural appearance of 2025 last night. He pitched 1 inning(precautionary), he gave up consecutive singles to Fernando Tatis Jr. and Luis Arraez. Then Manny Machado hit a sacrifice fly to give San Diego an early 1-0 lead. Ohtani then induced two ground outs to end the inning. It’s good for the MLB to have such a talent back in action.

…while we’re in the MLB world, let’s look @ our own situation. The Cardinals are “rebuilding” in a hurry. A plethora of youngsters dot their starting lineup. There has been an effort to bring EXCITEMENT as the Cards have integrated more Speed into their lineup.  Cardinals fans seemed to have ALWAYS liked the EXCITEMENT of the running game.

…. To this point, things have shaken out like this…Willson Contreras has moved from catcher to 1b on a daily basis. It wasn’t in their original plans but…he’s a 1b now. 2b Brendan Donovan holds a .317  (8th in NL) average and generally bats 1st  or 2nd  in the lineup. Rookie Masyn Winn is the every-day SS. He’s going through a tough time @ the plate right now. But, that’s the constant adjustment required by MLB players. He has good speed, his average should hover around .260 and is a sound defender.  The outfield shapes up like this: Lars Nootbaar, Jordan Walker, Victor Scott II. Scott & Walker have long-term capability (get in their 6 years of MLB action before becoming a free agent). Nootbaar is a fan favorite. I have my own reservations about him. He’s batting .223 as I write this,   I feel like the Cardinals need a power-hitting, RBI man in LF. Nootbaar isn’t that type of player. Generally, a team’s power hitters are the 1b, 3b, LF positions sometimes the RF fits into that power-hitting group. Of course there are exceptions. LF Lou Brock wasn’t a power hitter but he was the catalyst for the offense with his speed.

…Pitching, as always, is the question.  I think that there will be additional shuffling to upgrade the starting staff and also the bullpen. It appears that the Cards closer, Helsley, has lost velocity on his pitches. You know dropping even 2 or 3 mph as a pitcher causes effects. Helsley’s contract can be extended by the Cardinals after 2025 season. I doubt that the Cards will do it. Soooo…a new closer will have to be found, probably in the off-season. At 3b, Nolan Arenado is still limping along as the 3b holds a .240 average. He turned down at least 1 offer last winter to be traded. You have to admit…he’s durable. He seldom misses a game but.. he’s batting .247 with 9 HR as I write this Buzz. He’s fallen way off his own standards.  Nolan Arenado has a 9-year, $275 million contract with the St. Louis Cardinals, which he signed while he was with the Colorado Rockies. He has a full no-trade provision. Arenado used that “no trade” clause to turn down to trade to Houston.  As I write this, Houston is in 1st place in the AL West with a 5 game lead!  There are 3 years remaining on the contract, with $74 million remaining to be paid to Arenado. The Colorado Rockies are paying a portion of Arenado’s salary, with $5 million each in 2025 and 2026, according to ESPN. Even so, $64m of the salary is the Cardinals responsibility. Even if the Cards can “move him”, they’ll have to pick up some of that salary. Probably a “good Part” of that salary. What does that say about a player…if he DOES get traded and 2 other teams are paying part of his salary?

…The Cardinals over-loaded catching staff has Ivan Herrera, Pedro Pag’es & Yohel Pozo with Contreras being moved to 1b. NO MLB team can carry 3 catchers (with a 4th one at 1b)…it severely limits the roster. Especially, in the current MLB mode of 4/5 pitchers per game.

…Alec Burleson has been a proficient batter all season. His batting style may NOT be EXPLOSIVE but he’s demonstrated that he can HIT. As I write this Burleson is 3rd on the team in average@ .313; 5th in HR, 6th in RBI’s. He’s posting these numbers with about 50 less at-bats then the players ahead of him! The Cardinals can’t seem to find a place for him.  I’d put him in LF with Victor Scott II & Jordan Walker completing the outfield.

…there’s all kinds of INTEREST EXPLODING in Chicago over the Cubs. Currently in 1st place, the Cubbies payroll is well under the luxury tax threshold – it’s the 12th highest in the majors. So, they have plenty of “room” to go out and purchase a seasoned starting pitcher or bullpen assistance for their “run” in Aug/Sept towards the playoffs. Not good news for the Cardinals!

…Thanks for taking your time ON THIS INAUGURAL UTUBE PRESENTATION!  YOUR thoughts/comments are always invited. Pass the word to your friends, family about the Buzz. It can be found on Utube, Facebook (Bob Ryan) or on bobryansportsblog.com. Thanks for your time/read. Bob