STL Sports Buzz: Week 1

Cardinals Game Recaps - These game recaps will be pretty basic until Spring Training is over. I don’t believe in looking to much into spring games because if you remember the 2023 Cardinals were the “Spring Training Champions” and we saw where that ended up.

Once the 2024 season officially starts and we have film from every game and real Statcast data. Then I’ll really do some digging and provide more film and highlights.

• Sun, Feb 25 - Cardinals 3 @ Astros 0

  • _{Masyn Winn goes 3-3 and shows off his cannon of an arm to retire Trey Cabbage.}

• Mon, Feb 26 - Cardinals 1 @ Marlins 1

  • _{Strong pitching holds Marlins to 1 run. Cooper Hjerpe goes 2 innings with 4 Ks but also walked 2.}

• Tue, Feb 27 - Red Sox 3 @ Cardinals 3

  • _{Luken Baker 2-2 with an RBI.}

• Wed, Feb 28 - Cardinals 0 @ Mets 3

  • _{Offense struggled in this one. But Miles looked decent in his 2 innings and Ryan Helsley had a strong inning.}

• Thur, Feb 29 - Nationals 3 @ Cardinals 1

  • _{Masyn Winn’s double showing off his elite speed is about all there is to show from this game.}

• Fri, Mar 1 - Mets 2 @ Cardinals 3

  • _{Nolan Gorman flashes some leather as he locks down the fundamentals in spring training turning a 1-4-3 double play. Then shows off some athleticism to make a tricky last second diving catch in shallow centerfield.}
    

Blues Game Recaps - I will admit that I know a lot less about hockey than most Blues fans. But I’m looking forward to following the Blues more than I currently do through this newsletter! Don’t be afraid to call me out on my lack of knowledge and teach me about the game!

• Tue, Feb 27 - Blues 2 @ Jets 4

  • _{Pavel Buchnevich and Brandon Saad each score a goal. Joel Hofer struggles in net allowing the Jets to score 4 goals against him.}

• Mon, Feb 26th - Blues 2 @ Oilers 3

  • _{Buchnevich scores again and Robert Thomas adds a goal in support. Kyrou distributes the offense with 2 assists. Binnington in net this time allows 3 goals in 35 save attempts.}

STL City Game Recaps - Again, baseball is my forte. But I still love the city of St. Louis and will do my best to cover our beloved soccer team as well. Their inaugural season last year was inspiring and I hope they’re able to do the same this season!

• Tue, Feb 27 - Houston Dynamo 1 @ STL City 0

  • _{Dynamo put up 12 shots to City’s 6 while controlling possession for 69% of the game.}

  • _{This is coming off of a game where City outshot the Dynamo the week prior but still struggled to keep possession when City found a win with 2 goals to 1.}

  • _{If City is going to struggle to hold possession they are going to have make it count and get up shots like they did when they pulled out the win with 15 shots to Dynamo’s 6.}

  • _{Dynamo move ahead in the CONCACAF Champions Cup bracket by scoring more goals as the away team to eliminate St. Louis.}

Week in Review

I guess the biggest news of the week is that the Cardinals signed 3x All-Star Brandon Crawford to a 1 year deal. The idea is that he’ll add to the veteran leadership and provide some backup for Masyn Winn in his first full season as the starting SS for the big league club. I don’t hate the signing of Brandon Crawford. He’s a great defensive player.

You’ll quickly learn that I love defense. I think it is so important for a solid team to play great defense. Offense is important but hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in all of sports. And doing it consistently is even harder. But defense is all about effort. If you put in the work, you can be great at defense. And when the bats go quiet for a few games in a row defense and pitching can carry a team that is struggling.

Now the joke is that this Cardinals roster looks very similar to the roster I built in MLB The Show 15 when I had Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Brandon Crawford, and Matt Carpenter running the infield for the St. Louis Cardinals. Just to give some perspective take a look at these stats from this 2024 Cardinals roster in 2015…

Paul Goldschmidt: .321 AVG 33 HR 110 RBI 168 OPS+ ^{All-Star, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger}
Nolan Arenado: .287 AVG 42 HR 130 RBI 124 OPS+ ^{All-Star, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger}
Brandon Crawford: .256 AVG 21 HR 84 RBI 113 OPS+ ^{All-Star, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger}
Matt Carpenter: .272 AVG 44 2B 28 HR 135 OPS+ ^{Lead national league in doubles
Oh and not to mention the 58 DRS (Defensive Runs Saved) between Goldy, Nolan, and Crawford.}

The Cardinals have still yet to hit a homerun in Spring Training this year. While this can easily cause concern I want to assure you that it shouldn’t. First of all, as I mentioned before, Spring Training means nothing. Guys are getting their reps and the homers will come. Spring is the time to work on the fundamentals. And those fundamentals are what will carry you throughout the long and grueling 162 game season.

Games This Week

• Today

  • Cardinals @ Astros

  • Wild @ Blues

  • STL City SC @ New York City

• Sun, Mar 3

  • Marlins @ Cardinals

• Mon, Mar 4

  • Cardinals @ Nationals

  • Blues @ Flyers

• Tue, Mar 5

  • Twins @ Cardinals

  • Blues @ Islanders

• Wed, Mar 6 

  • Off Day

• Thur, Mar 7 

  • Astros @ Cardinals

  • Blues @ Devils

• Fri, Mar 8

  • Cardinals @ Nationals