In sports, there always seems to be certain “given” ideas. But, when one looks a little closer, you’d have to say to yourself, ‘TELL MY WHY” some of those ideas began or cotinue. Take a look…
…TELL MY WHY the Cardinals are so much better in ’25 than ’24. Several reasons—#1) defense has improved—the OF is covered by 3 speedy athletes and are tracking down balls that previously fell for hits. Then, once they get there, the Cards make the catch. The fielding per cent is.990—highest in the league! #2) the starting staff has piled up 29 quality starts in their first 64 games! They had 61 quality stats in all of 2024. #3) When starters depart, the deep level of performance by the bullpen has been totally unexpected. We did expect
Ryan Helsley to be the “closer”. While he has posted 13 saves of 18 save attempts which seem sound enough but the worrisome part is that his fastball/slider seem “down” in velocity in some, maybe several, games. Helsley’s drop in velocity has made him a much tougher candidate to trade. Cards piddled all winter over Helsley…when or should, they trade him. Well, his performance has now made him far less appealing.
…On the other hand…TELL ME WHY Starter Sonny Gray is performing as an ACE. Gray’s masterful use of his sweeper and a focus on targeting in the zone has elevated him to high level starting pitcher. His 7-2 record is the best for him since 2015 when he posted a 14-7 record. His career-high strikeout rate (30.3%) and career-low walk rate (5.8%) are also key indicators of his success. While he allowed more home runs, his overall WHIP is also at its lowest since 2019, indicating a more efficient pitching approach. Gray’s approach has been to use his fastball early in the counts and to his sweeper later in the count. It wasn’t that many months ago that the Cardinals were “shopping” Gray around. With the quick turnaround of the team and Gray’s strong performances as an ACE, the Cards are a different team
…another out-of-nowhere Cardinal performance in 2025 has been by Phillip Maton. He wasn’t counted on to be the contributor. In fact many were surprised that he made the ’25 roster on opening day!! Maton’s career has been rocky. He’s bounced around in the MLB since 2017 never really carving out a role with a team until this year. In 2025, his 2.16 ERA as of today is by FAR the best of his career. In his previous years his ERA has been—4.19; 4.37;6.14;4.57; 4.73; 3.84, 3.00, 3.66!! What an improvement!! WOW, it’s hard to believe it’s the same guy. The Cardinals, like most other MLB teams, rely on a bevy of pitchers each game. The “set up” pitchers—6th, 7th, 8th innings (generally) have become more & more essential as most starters seem to make the 5/6 innings mark as the “acceptable” standard.
…TELL MY WHY the Univ of Missouri Basketball program his “dreamed up” a new position on their staff—GENERAL MANAGER. In other sports, the GM is the boss over most all other assets in that particular program. At the MLB level, The GM, hires/fires the manager and other coaches, signs/releases players. But @ Mizzou, the newly formed & named, GENERAL MANAGER for basketball, is being paid a 2-year $350,000 salary. It seems to me to be a signing of a superb recruiter that MU wanted badly. So badly that MU invented a new position to justify his high salary. TELL ME WHY this new position has been formed & how it’s going to improve the entire mens basketball program. Is this just a cover for HC Dennis Gates? I mean the basketball coach has 12-15 players (not 60 or 70 like football) to coach, develop, guide as people & players. Just tell us that he’s a helluva recruiter that should make the team better and we want to pay to get him!
…TELL ME WHY the Milwaukee Brewers win more than the Cardinals. Quick history, Milwaukee became a team in 1969 as an AL team. They actually lost to the Cardinals in the 1982 World Series. In 1998, Milwaukee moved the National League. They are on a playoff run! They’ve been in 6 of the last 7 NL playoffs. Meanwhile, the St Louis Cardinals have been in 4 post-season series in the same length of time. The Cardinal results were:
2019: Lost in the NL Championship Series. 2020: Lost in the NL Wild Card Series.
2021: Lost in the NL Wild Card Game. 2022: lost the NL Wild Card Series.
They’ve made it past the Wild Card game once! Compare the spending on salaries—
St LOUIS CARDINALS.PAYROLL 2015-2025, then their record
2015 $132,178,951—100-62 2016 $153,738,117—86-76 2017 $155,235– 83-79
2018 $165,792,867—88-74 2019 $178,872,485—91-71 2020 $69,331– 30-28
2021 $168,923,070—90-72 2022 $165,364,899—93-69 2023 $173,076,956–71-91
2024 $178,307,638—83-79 2025 $135,578,342 (projected)
MILWAUKEE BREWERS PAYROLL 2015-2025
2015: $104,237,000 2016: $63,908,300 2017: $63,061,300
2018: $90,964,571 2019: $122,530,400 2020: $39,200,762
2021: $99,377,415 2022: $131,930,160 2023: $118,762,027
2024: $104,324,351 2025: $111,463,623 (projected)
TELL ME WHY—Cardinals outspend Brewers rather dramatically most years. Check the year-year totals for each team above. According to these numbers, the Cards outspect the Brewers by$74m in 2024!, $155m in 2023; and on & on (read the chart above). It’s stunning! Compare those numbers! But, despite spending far more than Brewers, the Cards aren’t attaining the same success. It clearly points the finger at the Cardinals General Manager. While never being know as “high rollers”, our current ownership has spent considerably more than Milwaukee. Check the salaries above. TELL ME WHY the Cardinals have fallen off so far!!
…Are the Cardinals staying too long with their “stars”? They really wasted the last season of Adam Wainwright. Adam Wainwright’s salary in his final MLB season, 2023, was $17.5 million. His performance on the mound was sad, very sad…posted a 5-11 record; in his 101 innings that year, he gave up 151 hits, had an Earned Run Average of 7.4 (ERA is based on number of runs in 9 innings of pitching). His goal of 200 wins (which he reached with his 5th win) it seemed to me that his final win became the primary goal of the team! Not of winning games!!!
…The Goal of any team at any level is to win the game. Putting personal goals ahead of that basic goal of winning team titles was egregious. As you would expect, that 2023 season was horrible for the Cards they finished with a 71-91 record. Sooo..I guess the thought was…change the focus of winning the games to reach the Wainwright personal goal as he had to work hard to reach his 200th victory. The GM had to “agree” to make the plan for Wainwright work. I don’t blame Wainwright, I would have wanted to do it also if it was me. But..in fact…It had to be decided by the General Manager &/or ownership team that Wainwright could fight, scratch, crawl, whatever to get that 200th win. I actually felt sorry for Wainwright because it became such a gigantic hurdle for him.
…Some fans point out that all players “drop off” at some time in their career. Sure…all players “drop off” at some point. As humans, none of us in our 30’s are the same as we were in the prime of life—the 20’s. It’s human nature. Often they point at Stan Musial and point it out that he had a drop off too, a huge drop off. Well…he did…but it began at a much, much higher level. In Stan’s first 17 years, he batted over .300 each and every year. His highest was .376 in 1948. Stan didn’t hit below .300 in a season until 1959 when he was 38 years old! He did bat below .300 in 4 of his last 5 years. Compare it to present batting leaders. In 2024, only 7 MLB batters achieved a .300 batting average or better according to MLB.com. This number was down from nine in 2023; 11 in 2022; and 14 in 2021!
…TELL ME WHY we haven’t heard anything from the Blues yet! Well…it’s about to begin shortly. The Blues will be in the market to upgrade their defensive corp. First of all, they must address the status of Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, both defensemen who are pending restricted free agents. To my eyes, both seemed to have strong playoff performances. 2nd, the 2 older defensive veterans Justin Faulk & Brayden Schenn need to be moved. Faulk at 33 years of age with declining defensive skills and hie $6.5 salary through 26-27 season. These numbers make if difficult for the Blues to sign/keep younger players “on the way up” It may be difficult since his defensive game has declined. Likely, he’ll be traded for a younger, cheaper, more defensive defenseman or to free up cap space.
…Brayden Schenn: The team’s captain, now 33 years old, who was rumored to be traded at the deadline, but the Blues kept him. He did provide a strong statistical season and contributes to the Blues’ physicality and leadership, making him a valuable asset. However, his no-trade clause changes to a 15-team list this off-season. That’ll make him easier to trade while he still has some value. The Blues are still climbing the “rebuild” mountain despite that almost miracle win in post-season. Further, while he is still a valuable Blues player, it is thought by some that his high salary might be better used elsewhere on younger players who are closer to their prime.
…TELL ME WHY St Louis City hasn’t been able to solve their scoring issues. Currently holding a 3-5-9 (win-draw-loss) record, City sits in the 14th spot of a 15 team league. They’ve scored 14 goals—the fewest in the league while giving up 23 goals. In fact, City doesn’t have even one scorer in the top 50 scorers of the league!! I realize that it isn’t easy to find “big” offensive threats but this isn’t a NEW problem for City. You hate to say it…but you get what you “pay for”..step it up-dig deeper into that wallet!!
…TELL ME WHY we haven’t heard much about the active St Louis U Men’s basketball work this off-season. The Billikens have signed transfers, Brady Dunlap, a transfer from St. John’s, to their roster. They also added Trey Green, a 4-star recruit from Xavier, who will have 3 years of eligibility. Dunlap was a high-level recruit out of Harvard-Westlake School and played for LeBron James’ sponsored team on the Nike NYBL so he must have some talent. That doesn’t mean that he’s a “winning, team player”. It was clear last year as one watched the Billikens that Coach Schertz was an experienced, positive thinking coach & one who expected improvement from each player throughout the season. Coach Schertz is known for building championship programs (he led Indiana St to a 32-7 record & an NIT Championship appearance in his final year @ Indiana State. He’s known for developing student-athletes, and fostering a positive team culture based on core values like relationships, hard work, growth, and winning. These “new” players will adjust easily and elevate the Billikens. Get ready for a Good Ride!! To my eyes, transfer players usually bring talent, sometimes huge amount of talent, but also other “baggage”. When unhappiness occurs, almost always, they are unhappy about playing time. Hopefully, different setting, different coach, different set of expectations will “work out” for them & the Billikens and lead to a terrific season.
…TELL ME WHY the Texas Rangers are so bad in 2025. With lofty pre-season expectations, the 4th place Rangers currently hold a 31-35 record. An ugly 11-22 road record has been a part of it. As of last week, the Rangers hold the 2nd worst in on-base percentage and are the third-worst in batting average in all of MLB. Their .223 average as a team is only worse than the nine win Colorado Rockies and 18 win Chicago White Sox. In addition, the Rangers bullpen has cost them in several close games. A collective 3.86 bullpen ERA isn’t going to “cut it”.
…TELL ME WHY we haven’t heard more about the young pitching Pirate phenom, Paul Skenes. His Early season performances have been tremendous. He was projected to be a top pitcher and he IS one of the top pitchers of the league. At this point of the season, Skenes stats speak for themselves. He holds a 1.88 ERA, has 92 strikeouts in 91 innings of pitching, has given up just 56 hits in those 91 innings of pitching. His 4-6 won-lost record has to do with being on one of the weakest teams in the MLB than his pitching. Skenes is expected to be a leader in the MLB in both ERA and strikeouts for multiple years, a feat seldom seen any longer. He provides the lowly Pirates with a “super star”—even if it’s only every 5 days. Yet, there are trade rumors circulating around him. I suppose the Pirates would take 2 or 3 players that were “starters” and at least one of them a top level player for this young budding superstar pitcher.
…Thanks for your time/read & responses. I don’t expect anyone/everyone to agree with me. Soo..send in your ideas/thoughts. If you read this on Facebook, please click the “like” button as a sign of your read”(not necessarily that you liked it) Thank YOU! Bob
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