April

[Fan_In_NY]

The Cardinals currently have the 2nd highest BABIP in baseball (.330). They do have the highest line drive in the majors (23.5%) so some of it is for real, but its not going to stay that high all year. Last years top team in BABIP was the Tigers with .318 and the top LD% was the Astros with 21.1%. If the Cards do fall to those rates they still will have a very very explosive offense, but some regression is going to happen.

The Cards are hitting in a ton less DPs than last year which has been helpful and hopefully will continue.

The key to the pitching has been how few walks they give up. Tops in baseball with 2.01 BB per 9. High strand rate and low BABIP is cause for expecting some regression but if they continue to not give batters free passes (along with the very few errors) they should be in good shape.

Overall I only question some of the right hand relief. Marte has been good, and very needed. Right now I question if Salas' workload last year is hindering his success this year. I have seen it in the past where good relievers like Scott Proctor never get back to how they once performed due to a heavy workload. I have more faith in all of the right handers in the pen more than Salas at this point.

[Felix The Cat]

The only two really bad teams in the division are the Cubs and Astros - and we're only 3-3 against the Cubs and haven't even yet played the Astros. But we're 4-2 against Milwaukee, 4-2 against Cincinnati, and 3-1 (so far) against the Pirates - so, weirdly enough, we're 11-5 against the "good" teams in the NL Central and 3-3 against the "bad" teams. Plus 1-0 against Miami.

Funnily enough, the one NL Central team we haven't played yet is the only one with a positive run differential heading into today (except the Cards, of course).

And we're easily 4-2 against the Cubs as well if it weren't for that one game with multiple blown calls. Gotta give the Cubs credit for playing well against us despite their "non-contender" status.