Tipsheet
takes a dim view of the Baseball Hall of
Fame. Enshrined in Cooperstown are some of
the greatest players in the history of the
sport . . . along some a bunch of merely
good players.
A bunch of all-time greats are excluded
because of their participating in the
steroid era, while other stars who abused
painkillers, amphetamines, cortisone
shots, equine anti-inflammatories and
other forms of medical science to enhance
their performance have their plaque.
In short, the Baseball Hall of Fame is a
mess.
|
99.9%
Original
Content--Since 1995--The Online Source for St.
Louis Sports =====
2024-25 Was a Pretty Good Season... 'But That One Stinks' May 5 Overall, 2024-2025 was a pretty good
season for the St. Louis Blues. But it will likely take a while for
that to sink in. It’s the morning of Cinco de Mayo and
Round One of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is over.
Many of our town’s towel-swinging,
blindly-loyal hockey faithful are hurting and
frustrated. Many of them likely went to bed
angry after the Winnipeg Jets’ double-overtime
win in Game Seven: sending the Blues to their
summer vacation. This was a terrific first round
match-up. Much like the 1987 World Series, the
home team won every game. Unfortunately for
the Blues, the Jets had one more on Canadian
ice. The Blues were dominant at 14th
& Clark: winning every game decisively.
During the series St. Louis successfully
played a physical style and sent the likely
Vezina Trophy winning goaltender Connor
Hellebuyck to the showers early in each game
at the Enterprise Center. With each team winning three games at
home, it would all come down to a deciding
Game Seven in Winnipeg. The Blues took control
early as Jordan Kyrou scored at 1:10 of the
first period. St. Louis expanded their first
period lead on a Mathieu Joseph goal. Both
teams traded second period goals. For the
Note, they held a two-goal lead with twenty
regulation minutes remaining. It was all right there for Our Blue.
They were on the cusp of eliminating the
President Trophy winners from Winnipeg in the
first round and bringing more playoff hockey
games to the 314. With two minutes remaining in the third
period, the Blues led 3-1. Whenever you have a
two-goal lead with two minutes remaining in an
elimination game, you have to finish the job.
In this Game Seven on a Sunday night in
Manitoba, the Blues didn’t finish the job. Late in the third period, the Jets
pulled Hellebuyck for a sixth attacker. With
1:56 remaining Vladislav
Namestnikov scored to cut the St. Louis
advantage to 3-2. Then, with the goaltender
again on the bench, Winnipeg’s Cole Perfetti
scored with 2.2 seconds remaining in
regulation time: sending Game Seven into
sudden death overtime. It would be the latest
game-tying goal in an NHL Game Seven. Back in Eastern Missouri, local hockey
fans suddenly got that uneasy feeling of the
sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.
That feeling became reality in the second
overtime period. At the 16:10 mark of OT #2,
Jets’ Captain Adam Lowry scored to end the
game and the series. It would be the
third-longest Game Seven in NHL history. After the game, St. Louis Captain
Bryden Schenn had few but direct words: “That
one stinks. From a two-goal lead and two
six-on-five goals against, a second and a half
away from closing out the series. It's
brutal.” Blues Coach Jim Montgomery was also
brief but direct in his post-game reflections:
“It really hurts right now. There's no other
way — you lose Game 7 overtime, especially
when you have the lead at the end — it just
hurts.” Lowry’s goal sent Winnipeg to Round
Two. Lowry’s goal also sent the St. Louis
Blues to the off-season. Still, as we suggested at the start of
this piece, overall, 2024-2025 was a pretty
good season for the St. Louis Blues. St. Louis finished the 2024-2025
regular season with an overall record of
44-30-8 (96 points). But the season started
erratically. Then as Thanksgiving approached,
the Blues made a coaching change. On November
24, the Blues replaced Drew Bannister as Head
Coach with Montgomery. When the new Head Coach took over, the
Blues were 9-12-1. Not many were bullish on Our Blue back
then. On the final Sunday of 2024, the New
York Times has ranked St. Louis at 23 in its
Power Poll of teams and gave our local ice
heroes a mere 5% chance of reaching the
post-season. When the NHL shut down for the
Four-Nation’s Tournament six weeks later, the
Blues entered the break with a record of
25-26-5 (55 points). Back then The Note was in
fifth place in the Central Division and in
fifth place in the Western Conference Wild
Card pecking order. The bettors again were not impressed.
The gang at Moneypuck.com gave the Blues a
7.6% chance of reaching the 2024-25 Stanley
Cup Playoffs. The folks at Hockey Refernce.com
gave St. Louis a 7.1% chance of reaching the
tournament. But when the season resumed the Blues
caught lightning in a bottle. In their final
twenty-six games, St. Louis went 19-4-3:
including a twelve-game winning streak. They
leapfrogged over other teams to capture the
final Western Conference playoff spot. Suddenly the St. Louis Blues, who were
an afterthought for the Stanley Cup Playoffs
just weeks prior, have become a dangerous
first round opponent. St. Louis was not
expected to be here. Should the Blues lose, it
was expected. Should the Blues win, it would
be a bonus. Now the St. Louis Blues were playing
with the house’s money. The team took advantage of that in
Round One taking the President’s Trophy
winners to the brink. In so doing, Our Blue
reenergized hockey interest in the 314 and
arguably is now St. Louis’ most watched team.
Not bad for a team 5% chance of
reaching the post-season on New Year’s Day.
ESPN.com’s Ryan Clark and Kristen
Shilton recapped the 2024-25 Blues. “What went
right? Every move that GM Doug Armstrong
made throughout the summer and into the
season. The offer sheets for Philip Broberg and
Dylan Holloway led to Broberg, when healthy,
having a career-high eight goals and 29 points
while logging more than 20 minutes per game.
Not to be outdone, Holloway had his first
20-goal campaign. The trade for Cam Fowler
resulted in him having one of the
strongest seasons of his career -- and leading
the team in scoring for much of the first
round. Moving on from Drew Bannister to hire
Jim Montgomery resulted in the Blues gaining a
legitimate level of consistency that they used
to reach the playoffs for the first time since
the 2021-22 season.”
Here in the 314,
early May has arrived. Welcome to the
off-season.
But overall, 2024-2025 was a pretty
good season. It will just likely take a
while for that to sink in. Sample Size... April 8
Baseball Is Back March 26
It’s
good to have Baseball back. The arrival of the MLB season means
that we have survived another long cold
winter. Warm outdoor activities are on the
way. Everyone’s mood usually improves. The return of the National Past-time
is a good thing. This bureau believes this
is one of the best times of the year. On Thursday, Cardinal fans will trek
downtown to self-proclaimed Baseball Heaven
to party, to witness the traditional
appearance of the Anheuser-Busch
Clydesdales, to watch the arrival of the
red-coated Hall of Famers and to welcome the
parade of convertibles carrying the 2025 Red
Birds and coaches onto the field. Thursday afternoon will be the
twentieth opening day at Busch Stadium III.
But 72 hours before first pitch,
tickets remain for this home/season opener.
And at this writing, plenty of tickets are
available for the rest of the homestand. Let that sink in. Apathy is alive, well and on display
all throughout self-proclaimed Baseball
Heaven. The unofficial St. Louis area
holiday is starting to look more and more
like just another Thursday. That sure doesn’t sound like The
Cardinal Way. Perhaps it’s the reset tone the team
has been selling since last October. Perhaps
it’s choosing not to re-sign Paul
Goldschmidt, Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson and
another free agent. Perhaps it’s more and
more trinket giveaways/special theme night
promotions announced well before Game One. Regardless, 2025 looks to be an
interesting season for the local nine. 2025
also looks to be a different season for the
local nine. 2025 also looks to be a telling
season for the local nine. Or as we in this little corner of
cyberspace suggest: all of the above. Welcome to the land of the reset.
Instead of wondering if the Cardinals are
good enough to reach the post-season, the
self-proclaimed Best Fans in Baseball ponder
what uniform Nolan Arenado and Ryan Helsley
will be wearing on Labor Day and who will be
the Red Birds skipper when the final out is
called on Sunday September 28. These are all
unfolding as the John Mozeliak farewell tour
occurs. Cardinal fans are anywhere from
skeptical to angry. Just take a look at the
readers’ comments on any Red Bird story this
winter to gage the temperature. The national pundits are unsure about
the local nine also. In a 3/19/25 piece, MLB.com writer
Mike Petriello listed his “Tiers of
contending teams for the 2025 NLB season”.
Petriello ranks St. Louis in Tier 8, “What’s
the direction here?” He writes, (the
Cardinals) might even make some noise in the
Wild Card race, because all the talk about
doing a “reset” never exactly happened,
since Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, Ryan
Helsley, Miles Mikolas and Willson Contreras
are all still there. That’s good news for
2025 competitiveness; it just puts everyone
in something of an awkward holding pattern,
trying to balance competing now with giving
younger players room to learn, while knowing
that this is the final year of the John
Mozeliak Era before Chaim Bloom takes over
as the president of baseball operations.
They might be better than you think this
year. That wasn’t entirely the point,
though.” In The Athletic’s National League
Central Division preview, former MLB General
Manager Jim Bowden ranked St. Louis as the
least improved team in the division writing,
“The Cardinals were the only team I gave an
F to in my final offseason grades, as they
made only one major-league move, signing
reliever Phil Maton, and they didn’t do that
until March 13. They did reduce their
payroll by close to $40 million. As the
Cardinals reset for the future, they’re
depending on the development of their young
players — that’s the only way they’ll
improve this season.” But the show must go on. Opening Day
is Thursday against Minnesota. As the team embarks north the biggest
roster surprise is outfielder Victor Scott
II. The speedy Scott put up impressive
Spring numbers to earn a starting spot in
center field. It leaves visions of happy
memories dancing in the heads of the
self-proclaimed Best Fans in Baseball. The glass half full crowd will remind
you that in 1985 with Lonnie Smith injured,
the Cardinals promoted young outfielder
Vince Coleman as a stop gap. Coleman would
steal 110 bases, win the National League
Rookie of the Year Award as St. Louis
reached the post season. Time will tell if lightning will
strike twice with Scott II or if the
youngster will perform as someone who teased
with Spring Training numbers. We’ll see. When the real games start, the
Cardinals will list thirteen pitchers and
thirteen non-pitchers on the roster. Sonny
Gray will take the mound in Game One and
converted catcher Willson Contreras will
take over first base from the departed Paul
Goldschmidt. Regardless of the makeup, the
Cardinals will need to start 2025 strong.
St. Louis will host Minnesota for three
games before welcoming the Angels to town
for three more. Then the Red Birds head to
Fenway Park for three against the Red Sox
before traveling to Pittsburgh. The
Cardinals return home for three against
Philadelphia and then three against Houston
before spending Easter weekend in Queens
with four against the Mets. Saying it another way, the Red Birds’
first four 2025 will be against teams that
did not make the playoffs in 2024. Should
St. Louis stumble in these first dozen
games, the next ten games will be against
teams that appeared in the 2024 playoffs. And all of this will be unfolding as
the Red Birds will be competing for the
local sports dollar. The Blues have suddenly
become Stanley Cup playoff contenders and
more and more fans are coming through the
Enterprise Center turnstiles. St. Louis City
continues to pack them in the soccer palace
in Downtown. The day after the Cardinals’
opener, the Battlehawks will play their
first game in Houston, with a home opener at
the Dome the following Sunday evening. In a February 2025 with The Athletic,
Manager Oliver Marmol said: “The city only
cares about the St. Louis Cardinals. And
that's no disrespect to anything else that's
happening in this city. But that's what this
city is about."" We’ll see and we’ll be watching
stands at Busch III. Game One of 162 blasts off Thursday
afternoon with Sonny Gray as the expected
starter. 2025 looks to be an interesting
season for the local nine. 2025 also looks
to be a different season for the local nine.
2025 also looks to be a telling season for
the local nine. Here we go: Regardless, It’s good to have
Baseball back.
March 13 The St.
Louis Cardinals 2025 regular season Opening Day
is now just two weeks away. In fourteen days,
the Red Birds will host the Minnesota Twins at
Busch Stadium.
Winter Warm-up Weekend...and the Cardinals are at a Crossroads January 17 As
2025
arrives, the Gateway City has once again been
reminded that Mother Nature remains in charge. On
the first weekend of the new year, anywhere from
8-12 inches of snow were dumped in our town and
heavy and dangerous ice storms attacked the
outlying areas.
To those who were whining and complaining last summer about the 100-degree temperatures, we ask: please tell us how this is better? Watching the snow fall and fall and fall, this bureau’s mind went back to those warmer summer days in general and baseball in particular. With players scheduled to arrive in Jupiter, Florida in less than a month and the annual Winter Warm Up occurring this weekend, we revisit the state of the St. Louis Cardinals. Since we last visited, we’ve seen some old friends depart and the drama surrounding third baseman Nolan Arenado continue. It’s fair to label the local nine as a work-in-progress. During the off-season, Major League Baseball teams try to adjust/improve their roster and fire-up their fans for the upcoming season. That has generally been the battle plan here in the 314. So, a 1/10/25 piece in the Athletic by Jim Bowden who graded the off-season of each Major League Baseball team caught our eye. Bowden has a solid resume. According to the Athletic: “(Bowden) was formerly the Senior Vice President and General Manager for the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals for a combined sixteen years, including being named the 1999 MLB Executive of the Year by Baseball America. He is the lead MLB Analyst and Insider for CBS Sports-HQ and a regular talk-show host on SiriusXM for the MLB Network.” While one might disagree with his opinion, as the young folks might say, Bowden does have “street cred”. To that tend, Bowden provided this analysis of the local nine: “The Cardinals haven’t made a single trade or free-agent signing. They lost Paul Goldschmidt to free agency and have been trying to unload Nolan Arenado and his contract to no avail. Even if they can’t trade Arenado now, if he comes to spring training and demonstrates he could be a Comeback Player of the Year candidate, his trade value might improve and it might be easier to swap him. The Cardinals will probably have a better idea if they can move him before spring training once Alex Bregman signs, as teams that miss out on him will be forced to pivot. In the meantime, they’re building for the future in the final year under John Mozeliak’s leadership before Chaim Bloom takes over as President of Baseball Operations next offseason.” “Biggest question: Can Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman develop enough this year to live up to their potential on both sides of the ball?” “Season prediction: Fifth place” “Grade: F” Say what? Fifth place? Fifth Place is LAST Place. Grade F? This bureau knows some excellent teachers or instructors who do anything reasonably possible to assign this lowest grade. Let that sink in---“Season prediction: Fifth place”-----“Grade: F” Meanwhile, during this off-season we have seen: Juan Soto signed a reported multi-year $760 million dollar deal with the New York Mets. The Cincinnati Reds hire future Hall of Fame Manager Terry Francona to lead the team in 2025. The Reds are a rising team with much young talent. On the North South of Chicago, the Cubs acquired soon-to-be 28-year-old Kyle Tucker (who in 2024 hit 23 home runs in 78 games played) to roam the Wrigley Field outfield and bat third in the lineup. National League Central Division Champion Milwaukee quietly improved their starting rotation by peddling their soon-to-be free agent closer to the Yankees for lefthanded starter Nestor Cortes. Former Red Bird first baseman Paul Goldschmidt signed a one-year deal with the New York Yankees and Willson Contreras has been named as his successor at first base. But here is self-proclaimed Baseball Heaven, the local nine continue resetting. The St. Louis Cardinals LLC are at a crossroads. No longer is it a given that at least 3,000,000 self-proclaimed Best Fans in Baseball will dutifully parade through the Busch Stadium turnstiles in 2025. According to a 10/4/24 Sports Business Journal piece, Cardinals local television ratings hit record low and are down 47% over the last two seasons. According to that piece, the team’s 2024 ratting on Bally Sports Midwest was 3.9: compared to 5.2 in 2023 and 7.3 in 2022. More and more tea leaves are popping up and it is fair to ask if the thrill is gone. Apathy appears to be growing. Meanwhile, the team announced a very heavy promotion schedule after Thanksgiving while complimenting it with a flourish of local television commercials reminding the viewers Cardinal tickets do make great Christmas gifts. This week there was an on-line ad from a local based bank offering a contest drawing for anyone applying for a new credit or debit card. The prize for the lucky winner: two 2025 St. Louis Cardinal SEASON TICKETS. So how is all this playing? The tone of the responses from the readers on Cardinal related online stories have grown more negative and at times nasty. Now the off-season is growing shorter and shorter. The annual Cardinal Winter Warm Up is scheduled for to run from Saturday January 18 to Monday January 20 at self-proclaimed Baseball Heaven. Temperatures are expected to be cold and snow will likely be remaining on the ground. Inquiring minds must ask, what will the attendance and tone of those attending be? During the off-season, the goal of Major League Baseball teams is to adjust/improve their roster and to fire-up their fans for the upcoming season. “Season prediction: Fifth place” “Grade: F” As the tea leaves grow, pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report in Jupiter, Florida on Wednesday February 12 with the full squad workout scheduled for Monday February 17. According to the calendar on the wall, that is less than a month away. The snow still remains on the ground here in the 314. And the St. Louis Cardinals LLC remain at a crossroads. Mike's Annual Letter to Santa
Dear
Santa: T’was
but
days before Christmas and all through the Lou,
many of us are waiting for you. 2024 was rough
and frustrating here in the 314. The Cardinals
underperformed and are now resetting. The Blues missed out on
the playoffs again and fired their Head Coach
again. Professional soccer continued to flourish
in the 314 though the results waned. Missouri
football frustrated while earning to Nashville
for a Bowl Game. St. Louis University Men’s
basketball brought in a new coach while the
soccer teams continue to excel The Battlehawks
continued bringing big crowds into the Dome and
hosting the only 2024 playoff game in our town. While
this
bureau again asks its standard wish list of
being taller, thinner, darker hair and yeah, a
little bit younger, we again offer a few
suggestions before you hitch up the reindeer for
your midnight ride. We
do know way too well that we better not pout and
better not cry. This list is for our local
sports heroes, bosses, teams, and fans. Again, please keep this
quiet. It’s a secret. Full disclosure: some on
this list that have been naughty and some have
been nice. But
you
already know that. So,
from
this corner of cyberspace we submit this 2024
Christmas wish list: For the St. Louis
Cardinals: A compass You guys are at a
crossroads and need direction. You need to
recognize the old plan isn’t working anymore and
your ticket buying public is tuning you out.
Plus, other NLCD teams are passing you by and
are evolving. Whining about salary concerns, and
choosing inaction while blathering twelve-letter
words will only lead to more and more empty
seats at Busch Stadium this summer. For Oliver Marmol: A clock We
give you this because you are on it. This is
year four of your Cardinal Manager career and we
still are unclear how to interpret it. Again,
the already frustrated Cardinal fans have run
out of patience and right, wrong, or indifferent
you’re one of the faces of it. For John Mozeliak: A Gold Watch
and a thanks for the memories. It’s time for you
to leave. You are the face of the current
Cardinal franchise. After seventeen years, it’s
time (perhaps past time?) to pass the baton. Paul Goldschmidt: Our thanks and
best wishes: You have planed first base
professionally and with class during your stay
in St. Louis. Your quiet, workmanlike style
should be a model for others. Plus, we will
really, really, really miss your glove at first
base. We know there is some team that will take
advantage of your talents. For Yadier Molina: A GPS---it
would not be surprising if the Cardinals will
need to track you down this summer. For Willson Contreras: A big first
baseman’s mitt and videos of Keith Hernandez and
Paul Goldschmidt highlights to study. Forgive us
if we are skeptical this position change
experiment will not turn out well. For Tommy Edman: A tip of the
cap. While in a Cardinal uniform you’ll be
fondly remembered. This bureau doesn’t recall a
when traded player was so heralded and cheered
by Cardinal fans while appearing in the
post-season wearing an opposing uniform. For John Rooney: More and more
respect---he remains a top tier and sometimes
unappreciated, baseball announcer that this town
sometimes takes for granted For Adam Wainwright: More concert
dates and more TV appearances For Chip Caray: Our thanks and
appreciation again for coming back home. You
have made viewing some challenging baseball in
2023 and 2024 more tolerable. For the
self-proclaimed Best Fans in Baseball: The Show Me
State attitude—2023 and 2024 served as a wake-up
call that October baseball is not an
entitlement. Not showing up at self-proclaimed
Baseball Heaven remains the loudest signal you
can send to the Front Office: and that signal
was screamed loud and clear during August and
September. For the St.
Louis Blues: A playoff
return. You guys need to get in. In the past two
years, the Enterprise Center has been dark
during Stanley Cup playoff time. A three-peat
playoff miss will shake the core of your
(blindly?) loyal faithful. Plus, a playoff spot
is achievable For Blues
President Doug Armstrong: A microscope
and our respect. The microscope to take a hard
look at improving this team. Our respect for
acknowledging when it is time to pass the torch.
For Drew
Bannister: Good Luck Thanks for coming. But
business is business. For new
Head Coach Jim Montgomery: Tangible
Results—You’re here for a reason and the long
term. Let’s see what you got. For Jordan
Binnington: Pure focus.
Any 2025 Blues success/failure goes directly
through #50’s goal crease. For the
local hockey media—A deep breath.
The hyperbolic reaction of the Montgomery hiring
and the wins that followed were a bit much.
Hockey is a long season for a reason. For Kelly Chase: A positive diagnosis
and a strong recovery: The
former Blues tough guy is putting up a valiant
effort in the second round against a mean foe.
For what it’s worth, our money is on #39. For Blues Fans: A playoff return. You
deserve hosting mid-April and perhaps early May
hockey games at 14th & Clark.
Right or wrong, year after year, crisis after
crisis, through good and mostly bad times, Blues
Nation (although most times blindly) stand
loyally behind their heroes while swinging
towels and singing “Country Roads”. For the
rich & arrogant cartel better known as
the National Football League: Another lump
of coal, That’s still good enough for those
white billionaire owners and those millionaire
players with police records. Playing football
games on Christmas Days and making fans pay in
order to watch those games is simply business as
usual for the greedy Shield. To St. Louis City: An effective
new Head Coach and a warning. The hope here is
the new Coach will jump start team play. The
warning is City is now in year three and some of
the novelty of professional soccer could be
wearing off. Winning always keeps fans happy. To the
Battlehawks: A return to
the playoffs, a new quarterback, 30,000+ fans at
the Dome for every game and a hearty “Ka-Kaw”
throughout the 314 For the University of
Missouri Football Program: A successful
trip to Nashville, a quarterback prospect and a ladder: the ladder
is needed because the gridiron program at Ol’
Mizzou remains in the middle tier of the SEC. For the St. Louis
University Men’s Basketball program: Our attention.
We’re watching. Your hiring of Josh Schertz was
a solid addition and a bold move. Losing to
Woffard, not so much. Winning games and
improving the program will starting filling all
those empty seats at Chaifetz Arena. . For the St. Louis
University soccer programs: Continued
success. It was really fun watching how the
legacy of Billiken men and women kickers of the
past returned in 2024. You’re still our town’s
best kept secret. For local college
basketball fans: Two things: 1)
Relevancy for the annual “Bragging Rights” game.
Back in the day that game used to be the hottest
ticket in town. Now it’s played at noon on an
NFL Sunday afternoon 2) An annual Missouri/St.
Louis University basketball game rotating
between St. Louis and Columbia. Both programs
really need a shot in the arm For the flagship radio
station of the St. Louis Cardinals: A reality
check and relevancy. The glory days of Buck,
Carney, Kelly and Jim White are long gone. The
2024 Arbitron numbers were mediocre at best:
making the once mighty-MOX a non-descript radio
station that desperately cannot afford to lose
the Cardinal broadcast rights. While mostly
self-inflicted, the decline of this once
legendary radio station is just sad. Back in the
day KMOX was must listening. But, not anymore.
Also, please drop the moniker of “America’s
Sports Voice”, because you are not. For the faithful readers
of St. Louis Sports On-Line: A wonderful,
blessed, and safe Christmas, and a wish for a
great and prosperous 2025. Plus, our thanks for
bookmarking this site and visiting it on a
regular basis. Well
Santa,
that’s about it. Yeah,
I know it’s a long list so thanks for listening.
See you soon. Have a safe trip and we’ll keep
the lights at the top of the Arch lit. We’ll
have cookies & milk as well as a couple
Billiken/William Woods tickets waiting for you.
Your
friend,
A Cards Update and Some Questions
It
has been almost three months since the St. Louis
Cardinals completed their 2024 regular season.
Although the 2024 Red Birds finished with a winning record (83 victories), given all the empty seats that showed up at Busch Stadium in August and September, the self-proclaimed Best Fans in Baseball were voting with their absence about their heroes. It has also been almost three months when the Red Birds Front Office held their much-anticipated post-season press conference. At that conference the Front Office branded their makeover plan going forward as a “reset”. It’s now a week and a half before Christmas and the reset is eleven weeks old. Has time healed any of those wounds with the ticket-buying public in the 314? A few things have happened during the reset so far: In early October, St. Louis broke ties with former MVP first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and starters Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson. The Red Birds replaced Hitting Coach Turner Ward with veteran instructor Brant Brown. Also, they announced, old friend Jon Jay will return as a coach. On 10/22/24, the Cardinals welcomed former Cleveland Director of Player Development Rob Cerfolio as Assistant GM, Player Development & Performance. We repeat our thoughts from sometime back: given the cautious, “low hanging fruit” philosophy of the seventeen-year John Mozeliak era, we suggest Cerfolio’s hiring was driven by incoming POBO, Chaim Bloom. Meanwhile, a few other things have occurred: Juan Soto signed a reported multi-year $760 million dollar deal with the New York Mets. National League Central fraternity brother Cincinnati hired future Hall of Fame Manager Terry Francona to lead the team in 2025. The Reds are a rising team with much young talent. Another NLCD member based in the North South of Chicago acquired soon-to-be 28-year-old Kyle Tucker (who in 2024 hit 23 home runs in 78 games played) to roam the Wrigley Field outfield and bat third in the lineup. Meanwhile defending NLCD Champion Milwaukee quietly improved their starting rotation by peddling their soon-to-be free agent closer to the Yankees for lefthanded starter Nestor Cortes. Here is self-proclaimed Baseball Heaven, the Cardinals continue resetting. So, has time healed any of those wounds with the ticket-buying public in the 314? A few tea leaves have us in this little corner of cyberspace wondering: Shortly after Halloween, this bureau flipped on an Audacy music radio station. The Cardinals flagship radio station is also an Audacy station. When the tune ended, the friendly female music station DJ announced that if you are a certain caller, you will win a special prize: Tickets to Opening Day at Busch Stadium in March 2025 versus Minnesota. Say what? Aren’t tickets to the Cardinals home opener considered the “hottest tickets in town”? And there are more tea leaves. In a 12/9/24 press release offered details on the team’s 2025 promotional schedule: complete with over 30 giveaways for ticketed fans. To the best of our recollection, this is the earliest the promotional schedule announcement was released. The next day another press release announced that 2025 Holiday packs were available. Christmas shoppers had the choice of an Opening Day pack (including tickets for the Home Opener), Bobblehead Pack featuring all 2025 bobblehead giveaway dates, a package for all Friday night games regardless of opponent and a “Flex Pack” of at least three games choosing any of the 81 regular season homes games loaded with Cardinal Cash to spend. Again, to the best of our recollection, this is the earliest the ticket package announcement was released. But yet there are even more tea leaves. In the downtown garage structures across from Ball Park Village where this bureau parks for Red Bird home games, their website is posting reservations for upcoming season. According to the website the costs of parking for most 2025 games is 12.5% cheaper than it was for most 2024 home games. Adding to the curiosity, more and more commercials are popping up on local TV and radio stations suggesting Cardinal tickets for holiday gifts. In a 12/14/24 piece written by good-guy Lynn Worthy of out town’s only newspaper, Mozeliak reflected saying, ““If we can find the way to score runs on a consistent level, I do think we may surprise some teams. If you look at last year, our pitching kept us in games. Our bullpen carried us at times. Ultimately, we just really struggled scoring runs. This is going to be a big test, but it is about giving younger guys and opportunity, and it’s about seeing what they do with it.” While the POBO’s comments seemed lackluster in nature, what caught our eye were the reactions of the readers to the article. There were 102 of them. Conservatively 90% of the comments were negative. One of the many was: “Just watching some old video of Larussa and Dusty jaw jacking from the dugouts during a game. It’s amazing the HUGE difference in the electricity in the air and excitement. It’s been a really long time since we felt that here and tanking to save money won’t bring that back anytime soon. Yea. I said tanking.” So, how did we get here? In October 2021 days after a playoff loss, Mozeliak fired Field Manager Mike Shildt. With that firing, the Cardinals became Mozeliak’s team. Saying it another way, Mozeliak owns the current state of the St. Louis Cardinals. Right, wrong or indifferent, at this time Mozeliak is the face of the franchise. Based on the mood of the fans as Christmas approaches, they’re not accustomed to his face. Given all of this, we can’t help but wonder if the thrill is waning (if not gone) with many among the self-proclaimed Best Fans in Baseball. Is it to premature to ask during the waning days of 2024 if Cardinal baseball is not as relevant as in the past? The Front Office has to be aware and has to be concerned with all of this. Do they really want to play hot potato with the Hope Diamond? With Christmas less than ten days away, it’s far from the most wonderful time of the year down at 8th and Clark. While all is calm, is all bright? Inquiring minds wonder on the mood and attendance of next month’s Winter Warm-Up. It’s been eleven weeks since the end of the 2024 season. Reading the tea leaves, it is not unfair to ask: Has time healed any of those wounds with the ticket-buying public of the St. Louis Cardinals? Riddle Me This
Riddle me this, boys and
girls: Who will we next see playing in a playoff
game: the St. Louis Cardinals or the St. Louis
Blues? We in this little corner
of cyberspace pondered this question while
enjoying a complete smorgasbord of sports choices
on television. If you are a sports fan, you really
can’t beat October. On a given day you have your
choice of post-season baseball, professional
football, college football or the National Hockey
League. Heck, if you feel
adventurous there are even WNBA playoff games for
your viewing pleasure. Meanwhile, here in the
314 the weather has been spectacular. Temperatures
have been in the low to mid-eighties under sunny
skies with low humidity. In the mornings, there is
a chill in the air as the leaves on the trees
change colors. Saying it another way, it
sure would be a perfect day to host a playoff
baseball game. But back to the original
musings: In their 2023 inaugural
MLS season, St. Louis City reached the playoffs
and earned the #1 seed: only to lose to Sporting
Kansas City in the first round. During 2024, the only St.
Louis based team that has participated in
post-season play has been the Battlehawks. And
that run lasted only one game. So, it’s fair to ask: Who will we next see
playing in a playoff game: the St. Louis Cardinals
or the St. Louis Blues? Our Blue has missed the
playoffs the last two seasons. The team last
appeared in post-season play on May 27, 2022 when
they were eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche.
St. Louis finished 2022-23 with a losing record.
In 2023-24, the Blues finished with a winning
record but did not qualify for the Stanley Cup
playoffs. The Cardinals have also
missed the playoffs the last two seasons. The team
last appeared in post-season play on October 8,
2022 when they were eliminated by the Philadelphia
Phillies. St. Louis finished 2023 with a losing
record. In 2024, the Red Birds finished with a
winning record but did not qualify for the MLB
playoffs. There seems to be a
pattern here. But it continues: After the regular season
ended in June, the Blues announced a succession
plan where President of Hockey Operations and
General Manager Doug Armstrong would serve in
that role for now but former player Alexander
Steen would take over the controls in 2026. As Drew Bannister begins
as Head Coach, the Blues opened the 2024-25
regular season impressively. The team started
their season with a three-game west coast road
trip. The Blues won two of those three games: both
in comeback fashion. St. Louis will host Minnesota
in their home opener. In a few months on New
Year’s Eve the Blues will travel to Wrigley Field
to play the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL’s annual
Winter Classic outdoor hockey game. Meanwhile, as the team
tries to reinvent itself in a salary cap
environment, Blues Nation remain loyal and
continue to display their support (and credit
cards) at the Enterprise Center. In 2023, St.
Louis averaged 18,094 per game: 99.9% of capacity.
As Ian Mendes indicated in a 4/18/24 New York
Times piece, “while even a disappointing season on
the ice didn’t stop fans in St. Louis from filling
their respective arenas” The Blues are retooling
with the goal of reaching the Stanley Cup Playoffs
next spring. Their fans appear to be good with
that. Meanwhile, things have
been quiet down at self-proclaimed Baseball Heaven
since the much-ballyhooed post-season press
conference. Hours after the final regular season
game the Cardinals announced a succession plan.
President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak
would continue in his role for one more season and
former Tampa Bay/Boston Executive Chaim Bloom
would take over the controls in November 2025. “Our No. 1 priority will
be to lay the foundation for a sustained period of
competitive excellence in the years ahead,”
Cardinal chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said as he
opened the Press Conference. Those words “lay the
foundation” implies reduction in payroll. That has
begun with the team choosing not to pursue former
National League MVP and gold glove first baseman
Paul Goldschmidt to a contract extension.
Additional payroll cost-cutting decisions are
expected. Much like Boeing that has
recently announced a 10% workforce cut, questions
swirl down at 8th & Clark on who
will stay and who will go. Published reports
suggest third baseman Nolan Arenado, catcher
Willson Contraras, starter Sonny Gray and reliever
Ryan Helsley as targets for the reaching that
payroll reduction target. Arenado, Contreras and
Gray all have no-trade provisions in their
contract while Helsley is expected to break the
bank this winter in arbitration. The Red Birds are
branding all of this as a reset. Call it what you will,
you can’t hide your lying eyes. With beautiful
fall-like weather, it sure would be a good time to
host a playoff baseball game here in the 314. The Cardinals missed the
post-season in the past two years. The Red Birds
have not won a playoff game or playoff series
since October 2019. St. Louis has not won a World
Series in thirteen years and have not won a
National League pennant in eleven years. During this stretch of
beautiful weather in the 314, the baseball
playoffs are in full swing. Old friends are taking
center stage. Michael Wacha, Jose Quintana and
Jack Flaherty are starting pitchers in playoff
games. Lane Thomas is hitting home runs while he
and Tommy Pham are driving in runs. Harrison Bader
and Tommy Edman are versatile pieces for playoff
teams. Luke Weaver is closing out games in the
Bronx. And, Mike Shildt did not
encounter any philosophical differences as he took
his San Diego Padres into the second round of the
NL playoffs. For the first time in
twenty non-COVID seasons, the Cardinals did not
draw at least 3,000,000 fans. 362,976 fewer fans
saw 2024 Cardinal home games than 2023 Cardinal
home games. More and more rows of empty seats
showed up for August and September home games.
Local TV ratings were down 20% in 2024: after
being down 28% in 2023. Unlike the Blues fans,
the self-proclaimed Best Fans in Baseball don’t
seem to be good with it. Two professional sports
teams in the same market with similar situations
are perceived differently by their ticket buying
public. So we ask again, Riddle me this, boys and
girls: <>Who will
we next see playing in a playoff game: the St.
Louis Cardinals or the St. Louis Blues?
Sixty. Seconds? Minutes? ...or Years. It Has Been Sixty Years Since 1964.
“Like many of our fans, we were
disappointed with our results the last two
seasons. But our goals remain unchanged: to
consistently contend for National League Central
titles and playoff appearances, and ultimately
win the World Series.” “We have always prided ourselves on
drafting and developing our own players. It is
clear that we need make significant changes to
get back to this model. Our baseball decisions
going forward will focus on developing our
pipeline of players, giving our young core every
opportunity to succeed at the major-league
level.” With those words from Owner Bill DeWitt,
Jr., the St. Louis Cardinals welcomed the
off-season. On the morning of the first day of
October, the weather forecast in self-proclaimed
Baseball Heaven calls for sunny skies with
temperatures in the mid-seventies, though a tad
windy. In other words, a perfect day for a home
playoff baseball game. But there won’t be a home playoff game on
this forecasted beautiful day in the 314. Again The Red Birds began their off-season
after an improved, but frustrating 2024. St.
Louis finished with a winning record of 83-79:
tied for second place in the National League
Central Division. While a winning record might check a box,
drilling down on the numbers reveal
inconsistency and
underachievement. On Mother’s Day, the local
nine was 16-24. But at All-Star break the team’s
posted a 50-46 mark. Yet, in the second half,
St. Louis was a .500 team: finishing with a
33-33 record in the final 66 games. St. Louis
went 26-26 against NLCD foes. The Red Birds’
final dismal 229 team batting average with
Runners in Scoring Position was 27th in MLB. Meanwhile, the fans are losing interest.
TV ratings for Red Bird games were down
Attendance dropped 11.2% from 2023. The biggest crowd at Busch Stadium in
2024 came to see Billy Joel and Sting. So, a makeover is needed. Or, using the buzzword of the day utter
many times during the press conference: a
“reset”. DeWitt, Jr. announced that President of
Baseball Operations John Mozeliak would return
in that role for a final season, and Field
Manager Oliver Marmol would continue as skipper
for 2025. Also announced was that former Boston
and Tampa Bay executive Chaim Bloom will oversee
this overhaul of the minor league programs and
then, starting after the 2025 season, will take over as
POBO. Bloom’s new deal runs from October 2025
through 2030. How will Bloom’s overall be funded?
Although not directly stated but quite implied,
those funds will come from decreased spending in
payroll for the 2025 season. Inquiring minds wind how this was
received in the Cardinals’ season ticket renewal
department. The theme of this press
conference/intervention didn’t sound like The
Cardinal Way. Rather, it was how the Cardinals lost
their way. Lame duck Mozeliak added his thoughts in
his standard professorial and at times
condescending style. “I’d like to set us on a
course to get back to consistent winning. Focus
on the buildup of our baseball operations,
invest in new infrastructure and technologies.
What it is a multi-year strategy, a focus on
player procurement and development. It’s a
long-term investment in the organization’s
future… It’s not a Band-Aid solution. And this
is not an excuse. Focus on the word ‘change.’
Change. We need to make change to realize our
ultimate goal.” While he was quick with the jokes during
the press conference, Mozeliak did not address
was the obvious follow-up question: How did
Mozeliak’s team get here? Answer: Mozeliak owns the current status
of the Cardinals. The Cardinals missed the playoffs in the
past two seasons. The Red Birds have not won a
playoff game or playoff series since October
2019. St. Louis has not won a World Series in
thirteen years and have not won a National
League pennant in eleven years. Meanwhile, in San Diego former Cardinal
Manager Mike Shildt, who parted the team after
the 2021 season for “philosophical differences”,
will be the Manager of the host team in for the
first round of the NL playoffs. Mozeliak owns all this. He owns attendance results. The current
Red Bird business model is to sell 3,000,000
tickets and get butts through the turnstiles.
There, fans can spend their discretionary cash
on concessions, souvenirs, in-house activities
with finishing the day with all the fun at Ball
Park Village. At the core of this business model is
winning baseball games. Winning is the magnet
that draws fans and their credit cards downtown
to self-proclaimed Baseball Heaven. But the Cardinals
aren’t winning. And the ripple effect is
showing at the gate and the trend is speaks
volumes. The numbers say it all:
Meanwhile that Cardinal business model
which was so successful during the Tony LaRussa
era is alive and well in Milwaukee. During last
off-season, the Brewers lost their CEO, Field
Manager and top of the rotation Cy Young Award
winning starter. Six months later, the Brewers
are hosting the New York Mets in the first round
of the NL Playoffs. It seems the Cardinal Way is alive and
well and living in Wisconsin. Or, as third
baseman Nolan Arenado put it a few weeks back, “The Brewers won the division three out
of the four times I’ve been here. They’ve shown
they’re the team to beat in this division. And
that’s been tough. Because I thought that would
be us.” In a Memorial Day weekend conversation
with the team’s flagship station, Mozeliak said:
“I understand fans are not happy with myself.
They’re not happy with Oli. I don’t think
anything I say is going to change that. So, I
think we have to just keep trying to go back and
try to get this to work. We understand that if
it doesn’t, people are going to be held
accountable. And ultimately, that starts with
me.” Fast-forward five months, the Mozeliak
Farewell Tour begins and “reset” is the word of
the day. The Cardinals are Mozeliak’s team. He
owns this. “We have always prided ourselves on
drafting and developing our own players. It is
clear that we need make significant changes to
get back to this model. Our baseball decisions
going forward will focus on developing our
pipeline of players, giving our young core every
opportunity to succeed at the major-league
level.” Welcome to the off-season. We’ll see how
this plays with the self-proclaimed Best Fans in
Baseball.
“For
eight years, Travis led our men’s basketball
program with passion and dignity. This decision
was not made lightly.”
With those words St. Louis University Athletic Director Chris May announced that Men’s Head Basketball Coach was relieved of his duties. Earlier in the week May telegraphed what was coming: “Clearly our goals and expectations are to play in the NCAA Tournament and make a run, and this season has not gone by anybody’s expectations. There are a lot of positives programmatically, but this is a results-oriented business. We need to have success, and the goals haven’t been met this year.” During his eight-year tenure in Midtown, Ford became the third winningest coach in the school’s history: posting a career record of 146-109, that included a 72-64 conference record. While on paper the numbers seemed acceptable, the Billikens made just one NCAA appearance (2019) and two NIT appearances during the Ford era. According to published reports, the Ford/SLU divorce could be costly for the University. Those reports show Ford earned $2.45 million for the 2021-22 season (the most recent year available) and has been above $2 million for seven years, barring any unknown cuts. While it is unknown how many years remain on Ford's current contract, but it is believed there are multiple years left. Apathy has seeped into the school’s Men’s basketball program. There is no Billiken buzz in the 314. If you would read any 2024 game story, there were practically no respondents from the readers on the state of the team. The University of Missouri, whose 2023-24 team achieved zero SEC victories, received more interest/buzz/love than St. Louis University. But perhaps the biggest red flag was found in the rows and rows of empty seats at Chaifetz Arena on game nights. During 2023-2024, attendance for SLU Men’s basketball dipped to an average of 5,640 per game: one of the lowest average attendance figures in the past thirty years. This coaching change had to be made. These days SLU basketball is irrelevant in the 314. During recent interviews, Ford resembled the poster boy of burnout and came across as someone who has the sword of Damocles hanging over his head. So, now St. Louis University is in search of a new Men’s Basketball Coach to win games and restore relevance. To that end, we in this little corner of cyberspace asks two questions: First, just how attractive is the St. Louis University Men’s Head Coaching job? In 2005, instead of rejoining the Missouri Valley Conference, the University chose to open its first season in Atlantic Ten Conference. In a July 2005 interview, then-Athletic Director Cheryl Levick said, “Saint Louis University, its alumni and fans are extremely enthusiastic regarding the Billikens' inaugural year in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The profile of the A-10 membership is the best fit that Saint Louis University has enjoyed in the history of Billiken athletics. Plus, the A-10 provides new major market media exposure for our program and also opens the East Coast for undergraduate student recruitment for the institution. We look forward to a long, exciting and successful tenure in the A-10." Fast-forward twenty years and we now ask, how did that work out for you? SLU is at best a middle of the road member of the A-10: a middle of the road Conference. While we don’t know how much more lucrative it is for the University to rub elbows and to get conference paychecks with those East Coast schools, those Chaifetz Arena appearances of Fordham, Davidson, Richmond, Duquesne and the like sure don’t create much of a buzz. Inquiring minds can’t help but wonder if things would be livelier had Missouri State, SIU-Carbondale, Drake and the like (with their fans) would come to town for annual visit. But SLU made their choice to become the western most member of the Atlantic 10 conference. Now they are looking for a new Men’s Basketball Coach. Ironically, a couple of attractive/top of the list candidates are posting nice numbers in the Missouri Valley Conference. Will they or any other attractive candidate want to leave and come to the 314 to resurrect a program that is in the middle rung of a middle rung conference? It goes without saying that the University will need to start budgeting and/or contacting donors for a lot of money to entice a quality coach to the 314. While this might sound sacrilegious to many locals with their parochial, red state mindset, the St. Louis University Men’s Basketball Coaching position is really not a destination job. So, in order to get the attention of a top-notch basketball coach, the University needs to sell any prospective candidate that the job is attractive. That starts with money. This could be expensive. We’ll see The second question is, at this crossroads, this bureau ponders something SLU administrators discusses their students: What do you want to be when you grow up? It’s time for the University to decide where they stand on Division I Athletics. Remember, SLU lives within the same boundaries where the Cardinals, Blues, City SC and the Battlehawks reside. Those teams soak up loads the local sport interest and sports dollars. SLU must ask the tough questions. Are they content with its current middle-of-the road status while hobnobbing with like-minded East Coast schools or if they want the limelight, prominence and attraction of a school with a strong basketball team? Many members of Gen-Z likely couldn’t tell you what Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky or Kansas can offer academically. But most could likely tell you each have strong basketball traditions and likely can name you the names of prominent players and coaches. Right or wrong, Division I athletics do advertise the University. Particularly during March Madness. Everybody knows their names. With no disrespect to the University’s outstanding men and women’s soccer teams, the SLU Men’s basketball program is the flagship team for the school. So, for St. Louis University, it’s time to once again ask: What do you want to be when you grow up? Again, we’ll see. “For eight years, Travis led our men’s basketball program with passion and dignity. “This decision was not made lightly.” To the decision-makers down at Grand & Lindell: the ball is now in your court. You’re on the clock. Who and where you want to be when you grow up? A Busch Perspective... September 10 This bureau always enjoys chatting with the current Busch III ushering staff. To that end, while walking to the Press Gate prior to the finale of the Labor Day weekend series with the Pittsburgh Pirates, we chatted with an older usher who shared a tale. The night before the Red Birds blew another 9th inning save/opportunity that led to a loss. As the bottom of the ninth ended, the older usher said he thanked the departing fans for attending, reminded them to drive home safely and sked if they would see them tomorrow. When we asked the usher if the departing fans politely declined to returning the next day, the usher replied, “Actually, the fans didn’t say no” “They said, Hell No”. My, oh my This bureau has often questioned the real passion of the self-proclaimed Best Fans in Baseball. Naturally, loads of folks show up on Opening Day and appear during the playoffs. But it’s during tough time when the dedication is challenged. The summer of 2023 has indeed been challenging in the 314. Despite winning two straight in National League leading Atlanta, the local nine are still in last place in the Central Division at 61-78. Four more losses would guarantee the team’s first losing season since the Clinton Administration. At this writing, as a Big-League Manager Oliver Marmol has compiled a 154-146 win/loss record. Even the national pundits are noticing. In its recent Power Poll, The Athletic ranks St. Louis 26th of the 30 MLB teams with this review: “The Cardinals are not in a position to tear down and rebuild. They don’t really do that in St. Louis. The losing this season has been a shock to the system, but there’s always next year, and Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak has emphasized that starting pitching will be a priority moving forward. The Cardinals could look to move some of their excess position-player depth. They could dip their toe into free agency. There are options. But one thing is clear: St. Louis’ pitching staff ranked 25th in ERA, and things have to be better than that.” Yeah, Self-proclaimed Baseball Heaven has not been the happiest place on earth this summer. In past seasons, the Cardinals success was directly proportional to a winning record against Divisional foes. But in 2023, not so much. At this writing St. Louis is 15-24 against NLCD foes. That includes the Red Birds going 4-9 against the Pirates and 5-8 against the Chicago Cubs in 2023. At thus writing the local nine is 12-24 in one-run games and are 17-53 in games when the opposition scores first. So, it has been a rough summer if you are a Cardinal fan. And it’s starting to show at the gate. With ten home games remaining, the Red Bird Official Home attendance is 40,120 per game. Now it should be noted that the “official attendance” does not equal the actual turnstile count or the “eye test”. Viewing the rows of empty seats from the Press Box while hearing the official attendance total, this bureau was reminded of that famous line of a song by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Eagles: “You can’t hide your lying eyes”/ Regardless, let’s examine that 40,120 number. Ten home games remain. Even with an expected large crowd for Adam Wainwright Day, that 40,120 per home game total likely will not get much better. How does that compare to past seasons? In 2022 the Cardinals drew 40,994 per home game. In the pre-COVID seasons of 2019 and 2018, the average per game attendance at Busch Stadium III was 42,967 and 42,019, respectively. Any way you slice it, the trend is moving the wrong way for for the home. Team. A deeper 2023 dive is more concerning. From August 1 through Labor Day, the Cardinals played nineteen home games. In those nineteen games, only three of them announced an official attendance total over 40,000. We repeat, Memo to the suits at 700 Clark Street: are you paying attention? Under this ownership group, the Cardinals have consistently been successful in the field. That on-field success translated to success at the gate, television ratings concessions and license merchandise sales. During their tenure, the current ownership group should be proud their franchise year in and year out has been in the top five of Major League home attendance. That has been the real Cardinal Way. At the core of the Red Bird business model is success on the field which translates to butts in the seats. Winning baseball brings fans and their discretionary cash downtown to purchase tickets, beers, sodas, hot dogs, souvenirs, parking and perhaps even enjoying all the fun at Ball Park Village. But last place Baseball will obstruct those plans: especially so in this red state where folks can sometimes be set in its ways. It sure looks like the fans are speaking: “Actually, the fans didn’t say no” “They said, Hell No”. Memo to the suits at 700 Clark Street: are you paying attention? Aptil 30 This
isn’t getting any better.
Soccer in STL:As the calendar approaches May, the St. Louis Cardinals are concluding their ten-game in ten days, three-city West Coast road-trip. The West Coast excellent adventure has been not a happy one for the pre-season National League Central Division favorites. On the morning of the last Saturday of April, the Cardinals have an overall record of 10-17. They are currently in last place in the NLCD: eight and one-half games behind the first place Pittsburgh Pirates (BTW: that is not a misprint). With two games remaining, the local nine are 2-6 on this West Coast adventure and are 3-7 in the last ten games Saying it another way, St. Louis needs a seven-game winning streak just to reach .500. The Red Birds are 0-9 this season in the opening game of each season. To reach ninety victories in 2023, the Cardinals have to post an 80-55 record (.592 winning percentage) the rest of the way. Any way you look at it, St. Louis is playing from behind. This is not the desired road map for a team whose cleanest path to reach the playoffs is to win the Division. April results so far suggest capturing a 2023 NL Wild Card spot will be challenging. That means winning the Division remains the cleanest route to the playoff. In an attempt to remedy the Cardinals have tinkered with their roster. After a 12-game hitting streak to open the season, rookie Jordan Walker was assigned to the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Memphis. Shortstop Paul DeJong’s returned to the lineup with a bang. That is the good news. The bad news is this DeJong return has muddled the team’s middle infield structure. St. Louis has been a team influx during April. In their first 27 games of 2023, the local nine has a team batting average of .258 (third in the NL) and have scored 120 runs (4.44 runs per game) to date. Meanwhile, in the same 27 games the St. Louis pitching has posted a 4.49 earned run average while allowing 118 earned runs (4.37 earned runs per game) to date. Before returning on May Day to Busch III, the Red Birds still have two more games at Dodger Stadium. To date, the Adam Wainwright-less St. Louis starting rotation has logged 142.2 innings. That translates to a tad under 5 innings per starter per game. That also translates to the bullpen having to log those remaining innings per game. And, it’s only the first weekend of April This isn’t getting any better As the calendar moves to May, the Red Birds return to Busch III for a six-game homestand: three each against the Angels and Detroit, respectively. Then the team travels will play three games at Wrigley Field. Then comes nineteen games in nineteen days in four cities. It starts with three games at Fenway Park followed by seven home games: three against Milwaukee followed by four against the Dodgers. After the Dodger series, St. Louis heads to Ohio for games at Cincinnati then Cleveland. May concludes with a Memorial Day matchup against Kansas City in the eastern part of the state of Missouri. So, let’s review. For Cardinals, who are currently seven games under .500, are scheduled to play 29 games in 31 days. Fifteen of those games will be played at home with fourteen games played on the road. This is not the best scenario for a stressed pitching staff that to date has logged a lot of innings. This isn’t getting any better In its latest ESPN.com Power Rankings, the local nine is ranked 21st of the thirty NLB teams. Writer Jesse Rogers offers these thoughts: “A miserable month can't come to a close soon enough for the Cardinals. St. Louis is finally starting to pitch better, but that doesn't excuse lofty ERAs for starters Miles Mikolas and Steven Matz in April. The Cards aren't deep enough on the mound to withstand multiple starters struggling -- and that's not to mention Jack Flaherty, who is still slowly returning to form after all of his injuries. If those starters don't get rolling, it's going to be a long season in St. Louis -- no matter how well the offense performs.” In that same chart, the World-Wide Leader of Cable Sports Broadcasting ranks the Tampa Bay Rays in the top spot: with the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, Houston Astros and the New York Yankees, in that order, rounding out the top five. Looking at the upcoming schedule the Cardinals will have to travel to Tampa and Atlanta, with six games against the Mets with both the Astros and Yankees coming to Busch III. But right now, two games at Chavez Ravine remain. After the series opening loss to the Dodgers, Red Bird Manager Oliver Marmol offered his thoughts on the situation saying: “(first baseman Paul Goldschmidt) is about to get hot. The swings he is taking right now are really good. Nolan (Arenado) is looking a lot better, so that's a plus. ... There are several things pointing (up) but at the end of the day, you're paid to win." In a mid-week interview in San Francisco with the team’s regional cable sports outlet, team President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak tried to talk everyone off the ledge saying, “one thing I would ask from our fanbase is patience. We always have to remind ourselves it’s still April”. With April dwindling and May approaching, we’ll see if the self-proclaimed Best Fans in Baseball will agree. But this s not where the team was expected to be. Welcome to May, Cardinal Nation. Any way you look at it, This sure needs to get better. Today...and a History Lesson March 4 This
first Saturday of March is memorable for the
Gateway City. St. Louis City FC will play its
first regular season Major Soccer League home game
at their new stadium near Union Station. A sellout
crowd is expected.
Perhaps it is fitting this first match will be played on 3/4/23. You see, the team is in town to hopefully march forth into the 314’s sports calendar. To date, interest in the new team seems strong. The Opening Game has been sold out for weeks. There will be watch parties all over town. Merchandise sales have been brisk. You can see fans everywhere donning the familiar soccer scarfs throughout town. We in this little corner of cyberspace salute Carolyn Kindle, Jim Kavanaugh and their entire front office team in pulling this off. Given the political climate of this region, its resistance to change and the history of St. Louis snatching defeat out of the mouths of victory in such endeavors, the completion of the MLS dream is impressive. It didn’t hurt that Kindle and Kavanaugh are two of a dying breed: Executives of companies that are headquarters in St. Louis. There are not many remaining. Anheuser-Busch, Ralston Purina, Monsanto, Famous Barr and others have either relocated their headquarters elsewhere or ceased operations entirely. To that end, Kindle and Kavanaugh have clout that City Hall can’t counter. Again, we applaud their efforts and remain amazed they pulled this off. And this comes from a bureau that is not much of a soccer follower. The sport of soccer is engraved in St. Louis. From the Hill to North City to South City, youngsters through programs like the Catholic Youth Council and others played the game. The sport advanced to the college level at St. Louis University and Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. The sport flourished in the early 1980s when it went indoors. Back then the St. Louis Steamers Indoor Soccer team packed over 17,000 into the old firetrap at 5700 Oakland Avenue for their home games. But perhaps what brought St. Louis soccer to national/international attention occurred 73 years ago. That is when the 1950 United States Soccer Team shutout and dramatically upset powerful England 1-0 in World Cup competition. Five of the members of that US team hailed from St. Louis: primarily from the Italian “Hill” section of our town. Team goaltender Frank Borghi, Gino Pariani, long-time St. Louis University Head Men’s soccer coach, Harry Keough, Walter Geisler and Charlie Columbo, all from St. Louis, are members of the long-shot American team that competed in Brazil. All played instrumental roles. None realized at the time the impact their upset would have on the soccer world. They were all from St. Louis. All were family men who served our country honorably militarily and proud members of the Greatest Generation. Life was different in 1950. World War II just ended, but Korea was beginning. Many young families were converting from wartime to peacetime with their soldier-fathers and/or sons back home. Harry Truman occupied the White House. Television consisted of a black & white Philco. Cable was only buried in the ground. No one ever heard of “Internet”. Before that small high school in Hickory captured the Indiana Boys High School basketball championship, long before an unknown walk-on showed up on the fabled turf in South Bend, Indiana and long before we started to believe in miracles on ice in Lake Placid, New York, this young group of Americans shook the world on soccer’s biggest stage. In 1950, no one covered the soccer World Cup except for St. Louis Post Dispatch writer and Soccer Hall of Fame member Dent Mc Skimming. He was the only American journalist at the 1950 United States vs. England World Cup game. In order to attend Mc Skimming took vacation time from the Post and paid his own way to Brazil. In 1950 soccer is considered the “World Game”. But it never really caught on in the U S. Our country was fixed on baseball: with the explosion of football and basketball on the horizon. Still on the Hill and other parts of town, the World Game was a way of life. It was part of the fabric of the community. Despite their talents and successes on this side of the Atlantic, when this throw-together U S squad hit the field in Brazil, no one gave them much of a chance. Mc Skimming describes how this soccer team with players from all locations and nationalities, competed in the 1950 World Cup. The squad drew the powerful England in the first round. The game would prove to be a classic. Behind forward Joe Gaetjens’ sole goal and the incredible goalkeeping skills of Borghi, the US team would bend but would not break. Ninety minutes later when the final gun sounded, the Americans shut out heavily-favored England 1-0. The 1950 upset win over England might be the greatest unknown St. Louis sports story. Well before Ozzie Smith had us “Going Crazy” and David Freese walked it off in Game 6, well before the “Monday Night Miracle”, well before Bob Pettit scored 50 points to beat the Boston Celtics, and well before Mike Jones made “The Tackle”, this US soccer team beat England in 1950. While the dramatic win is considered sacred lore on the Hill and in the annals of local sports historians, few outside our town mention this event. The game was chronicled in the 2005 film “The Game of Their Lives”. The movie’s word premiere took place in St. Louis at the Esquire Theatre on Clayton Road. It was the only time (and likely ever) his bureau attended a red-carpet event. On this first Saturday of March, St. Louis City FC starts what hopefully will become a long and successful tenure in the 314. While there is much excitement around town, hopefully this interest will mushroom and not become just a flavor of the week. Time will tell but we wish the Front Office well and this bureau thanks them again for their efforts. If we may offer one suggestion, hopefully in that new soccer palace downtown there will be an area dedicated to our town’s past with the World’s Game. Hopefully included will be a spot reserved for that 1950 team that shocked the world with several St. Louis kids on its roster. As big of deal is that professional soccer is arriving in St. Louis in 2023, It may not have happened not for what occurred seventy-three years ago. Mike's Letter to Santa December 23 Dear Santa: T’was but days before Christmas
and all through the Lou, there’s a whole bunch of
us here waiting for you. 2022 was galore
throughout the 314. In a nostalgic season the
Cardinals returned to post-season play: but their
playoff stay lasted less than 36 hours The Blues
made it to the second round of the NHL playoffs
only to be sent home via a Stan Kroenke-owned
team. Football and
basketball at Ol Mizzou are still being bullied in
the tough SEC neighborhood. SLU Men’s Basketball
continues to tease us. The XFL and MLS are
scheduled to return in Q1-2023. While this bureau again asks its
standard wish list of being taller, thinner, and
darker hair, please allow us to offer a few
suggestions to assist in your list before you
hitch up the reindeer for your midnight ride. We
hope it’ll make it easier as you load up your
sleigh for the long trip south. We do know that we better not
pout and better not cry. This Wish List is for our
local sports heroes, bosses, teams, and fans. But please keep it quiet
because it’s a secret. Some on this list that have
been naughty, and some have been nice. But you
already know that. So, to that end, this bureau
suggests this 2022 Christmas wish list: For the St. Louis Cardinals:
A repeat National League Central Championship,
lots of innings from their starting pitchers, an
offensively-productive outfield and a happy
Willson Contreras. For Oli Marmol: A thumbs
up for a successful inaugural season as a mature
35-year-old Big League Manager and an open mind
and eyes to address things to come
For John Mozeliak: a
sense of urgency: The POBO saw the results first
hand when the much-needed transactions at the
trading deadline produced positive results.
Sitting on your hands while spinning professorial
excuses for inactions isn’t going to cut it and
everyone sees it. For Yadier Molina and Albert
Pujols: Thanks for the memories and specific
thanks for making 2022 a happy ending instead of
it not ending well. For Adam Wainwright: A
well deserved farewell tour, career win #200, and
a job offer in the broadcasting industry at the
end of the season. For Paul Goldschmidt: A
deep appreciation and respect from the fans for
solid and productive efforts in a businesslike
manner. For Alex Reyes: Our best
wishes: it’s a shame that things didn’t work out
better in the 314 Tyler O’ Neill: A healthy
2023 and a return to his 2021 form: whether in St.
Louis or elsewhere. Jack Flaherty: A strong
2023 season to enhance his soon-to-be free agent
resume and improve his value as a Cardinal trading
chip at the end of July MLB trading deadline. For John Rooney: More
appreciation---he remains a top tier baseball
announcer For the apologists on Bally
Sports Midwest: Broadcast adjustments:
PLEASE present telecasts that sound like more
baseball games rather than a Management-approved
talking point Cardinal pep rally. More analysis
instead of infomercials about ticket discounts and
giveaways; Please pull back on the hype and please
lower the volume. For Dan McLaughlin: the
help he badly needs. For Scott Rolen: a phone
call and invitation from Cooperstown, New York To Rick Hummel: A relaxing and enjoyable
retirement/semi-retirement: you remain the best
reason to buy a copy of the Post-Dispatch. Please
don’t be a stranger in your press box next summer.
To Tony La Russa: Good
health and satisfaction knowing your career is a
job very well done. For the record, those of us
you scolded during post-game press conferences, we
still wear the experience as a badge of honor. For the self-proclaimed
Best Fans in Baseball: Another red October
but longer. For the St. Louis Blues:
A playoff spot. From what we have seen so far,
that is not a given. For Head Coach Craig
Barube: His continued blunt management style
and feedback. It’s refreshing to see that old
school tactics are alive in 2022-2023 For Ryan O’Reilly: A
contract extension to keep the Captain in the 314.
Both parties want to get it done. It is the right
thing to do, so just get it done. For Vladimir Tarasenko:
Our respect and continued success wherever you may
be playing a year from now For Jordan Binnington:
A copy of the movie “Back to the Future circa
2019”. Any 2023 Blues success goes directly
through #50 goal crease. For Blues Fans: The
opportunity to swing their towels and sing “Take
Me Home Country Roads” deep into May down at 14th
& Clark. For the rich &
arrogant cartel better known as the National
Football League: Nothing because we don’t
care about you anymore---and once again thanks for
the big check. For the MLS-STL Group:
Thanks. and perfect February soccer weather when
the MLS arrives in that new downtown soccer palace
It’s still hard to believe it was really pulled
off in this town. To the Battlehawks: A
copy of John Sebastian’s TV theme “Welcome Back”,
30,000 fans at your home opener and a healthy
“Ka-Kaw” from the 314 For the University of
Missouri Football Program: A
season where the win totals exceed those in the
loss total, effective use of the transfer portal
for internal and external players and something
better than the Gasparilla Bowl (whatever that is)
in 2023. To Missouri Head Football Coach
Eliah Drinkwitz: a reminder---these are your
recruits, your transfers and your program and as
such you will own the results. For the St. Louis University
soccer programs: Continued success. It was
really fun watching how the legacy of Billiken
kickers of the past returned in 2022. For the St. Louis University
Men’s Basketball program: Tangible results
that include wins against ranked opponents. Also,
stop the teasing how “this is the year” each
season. For local college basketball
fans: Two things: 1) Relevancy for the
annual “Bragging Rights” game. Remember when that
game used to be the hottest ticket in town? 2) An
annual Missouri/St. Louis University basketball
game rotating between St. Louis and Columbia.
There’s no reason why this game shouldn’t occur:
especially as programs need shots in the arm. For the flagship radio
station of the St. Louis Cardinals:
Direction and a clue---The Q4-2022 Arbitron
numbers were terrible and the once mighty-MOX
continues to dive into irrelevancy in the local
radio market. While the decline has been
self-inflicted, what has happened to this
legendary radio station is sad. Also, please drop
the moniker of “America’s Sports Voice”, because
you are not. For the faithful readers of
St. Louis Sports On-Line: A wonderful,
blessed, and safe Christmas, and a wish for a
great and prosperous 2023. Plus, our thanks for
bookmarking this site and visiting it on a regular
basis. Well, that’s about it. Yeah, I know it’s a long
list so thanks for listening, Santa. See you soon.
Have a safe trip and we’ll keep the lights at the
top of the Arch lit. We’ll also have cookies &
milk as well as a couple Blues/Blackhawk tickets
waiting for you. Your friend, A Mission from God?! July 27 A classic quote from the film occurred when, after securing the needed funds by putting the band back together, the brothers hopped into their car to make the trip to the Cook County Accessor’s office in Chicago to pay the mortgage bill. Before leaving Elwood said to Jake: “There's 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark out, and we're wearing sunglasses.” To which Joliet Jake responded: “Hit it!” This scene came to mind this weekend after the St. Louis Cardinals completed their latest series against the Cincinnati Reds: losing two of three games. This bureau could almost hear Elwood say: ““There's 100 games played, we've got a .500 record, we’re in third place, eight games out of first place, and most of our starting pitchers are still unavailable”. To which this Bureau could almost hear Joliet Jake respond: “Forget it!” After one hundred games, it keeps getting bleaker and bleaker for the local nine. They are running out of time. On the morning of the last Monday of July, the Cardinals’ record is 50-50. Meanwhile, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego keep winning. It’s looking more and more like the two National League Wild Card teams will emerge from the NL West Division. If that does occur, it means only one NL Central team will advance to the 2021 post-season. That also means that if that does occur, St. Louis must win the Central to move to the next round. For that to happen, during the next sixty-two games first place Milwaukee will need to go into a major tailspin. Given the strength of the Brewer starting pitchers, a lengthy losing streak does not seem likely. To that end, given the current condition of the Cardinals starting pitchers, a lengthy winning streak does not seem likely. Forget it? In its recent Power Poll, ESPN.com ranks St. Louis at the bottom of its middle third of teams (#20) saying: “The Cardinals are treading water until they get healthy on the mound, but it might be too little, too late. Unlike other veteran teams who are far from first place, it's not likely St. Louis subtracts from its roster before July 30. St. Louis is hoping its 13 remaining games against the Brewers will be the difference.” With the trading deadline approaching by the end of the week, all indications point to the local nine as possible buyers and/or sellers. Either way, a significant transaction seems unlikely this week in the 314. That ship has likely already sailed when the Front Office did not to make a noteworthy trade once the injuries mounted with the pitching staff. SIDENOTE--Memo to the apologists of the team’s primary funding partner formerly known as Fox Sports Midwest: during the games this week please do not parrot the talking point that getting a pitcher back from the Injured List will be just like making a trade. It’s not. You can do better than that. While the August schedule appears on paper favorable for the Red Birds, the September schedule look much tougher. Aside from three games against the first place Brewers and two against the second place Reds, St. Louis will play against teams that currently have losing records. In August, St. Louis will play twenty-two games against a combination of Minnesota, Atlanta, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and Detroit. Meanwhile, September not so much: During September the Cardinals will play only six games against teams that currently have losing records. During September, the Red Birds will play twenty-four games against the first place Mets and Brewers, as well as the Dodgers, Cincinnati, and San Diego. Saying it another way, it appears the continuation of a path for a .500 team. Forget it? But could that be a red flag of upcoming storm clouds? The Red Birds have not experienced a losing record since 2007. If that occurs and given the labor situation of Baseball and the lingering effects of COVID, the Front Office should take a deep, hard look at its organization and business plan. In the DeWitt era, the Cardinal organization has been successful and profitable. Until COVID hit, over 3 million fans per season came through the turnstiles at self-proclaimed Baseball Heaven. But for the business plan to work, the baseball team must be successful. If the Cardinals are winning all is well. Fans will show up and open their wallets to giveaway their discretionary cash. But as indicated in this little corner of cyberspace, this bureau continues to wonder how strong the passion of the self-proclaimed Best Fans in Baseball really is. To that end, inquiring minds wonder: just how will the self-proclaimed Best Fans in Baseball react should their heroes post a losing record in 2021? We’ve asked this question many times recently. On the final game of the 2019 regular season, the Cardinals were hosting the Chicago Cubs. If St. Louis wins the game, they become the NL Central Champs. But as the 2:15PM first pitch approached on a beautiful autumn afternoon against the rival Cubs, rows and rows of empty seats were found throughout Busch Stadium. In Game Four of the 2019 National League Championship Series, the Red Birds forced a deciding fifth game on a walk-off single by Yadier Molina. But Busch Stadium was not sold out for this playoff game: Note the words—Playoff Game. On the Sunday after the All-Star break: an unseasonably comfortable July Sunday afternoon against the team with best record in the National League, rows and rows of empty seats were seen at first pitch. And did we mention, the current Major League Baseball Collective Bargaining Agreement is set to expire at 12:01AM on Wednesday December 1, 2021. Yeah, the Front Office must be aware of all of this. Back to the present, there are now sixty-two games remaining. Next up, two games against the franchise that will soon be known as the Cleveland Guardians. Can the Cardinals make the 2021 playoffs? We suppose they “could”. But, will the Cardinals make the 2021 playoffs? It will likely require a mission from God. |
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===== stlsports.com Link of the Day: A Look at the Finances of Big-Time College Sports Ben Bolch writes:
After seeing a series of bullet-point slides and hearing a slew of buzzwords about UCLA’s athletic department finances, Bob Myers put the crisis facing his alma mater in much simpler terms. “It’s like water’s coming in the boat and you’re trying to get it out, but how does this thing not sink?” Myers asked Tuesday afternoon at the UC regents meeting. “Or how can we help, I suppose?” Myers, who sandwiched a hugely successful run as the Golden State Warriors’ general manager between his time as a reserve forward on the Bruins’ 1995 national championship basketball team and his appointment as the newest member of the UC board of regents, was inquiring about an athletic department deficit that has ballooned to $219.5 million after running in the red for six consecutive fiscal years, including a $51.8-million shortfall in the 2024 fiscal year. Pete Rose Permanent Ban Lifted Stephanie Apstein writes:
And the timing is also unflattering, coming as it does amid President Donald Trump’s campaign for Rose. The president tweeted in support of Rose in 2020, then again when he died in September. Trump doubled down in February, posting on social media that he would soon be “signing a complete PARDON of Pete Rose,” adding, “Baseball, which is dying all over the place, should get off its fat, lazy ass, and elect Pete Rose, even though far too late, into the Baseball Hall of Fame!” (Rose was never prosecuted for betting on baseball; any pardon would cover the tax-evasion charges to which he pled guilty in 1990 and for which he served five months in prison.) Manfred acknowledged last month that he had met with Trump and that the subject of Rose had come up. Paul Sullivan writes: As a thanks to Trump, maybe the Hall can have Rose wear a MAGA hat on his Hall of Fame plaque with an inscription inspired by Trump’s tweet: “Pete Rose. ‘Charlie Hustle.’ All-time MLB hits leader. Banned by MLB from 1989-2025 for gambling on baseball, until baseball, which was dying all over the place, got off its fat lazy ass and elected him into the Baseball Hall of Fame.” Jeff Gordon writes: This is Manfred explaining why he removed Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson from the permanently ineligible list, along with some other dead guys. “Moreover,” Manfred wrote, “it is hard to conceive of a penalty that has more deterrent effect than one that lasts a lifetime with no reprieve. “Therefore, I have concluded that permanent ineligibility ends upon the passing of the disciplined individual, and Mr. Rose will be removed from the permanently ineligible list.” Rose and Jackson can no longer threaten the integrity of an industry that now grabs massive gambling revenues and aggressively promotes wagering to its fan base, including millions of young people. Great. Maybe Pete’s family can wheel his remains to Cooperstown for a celebration if he gets inducted some day. stlsports.com Number of the Day 26-14: the Tigers' overall won-loss
record.
1-5: Jack Flaherty's won-loss record. in 41 innings pitched, Flaherty has fifty strikeouts but allowed eight home runs May 10: .667 .667: the winning percentage for the LA Dodgers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||