A Crucial Time for Cardinals

Just inside the final two months of the season, the St. Louis Cardinals are finding themselves in a position not to familiar to the eleven time champions: doubt.

The division rival and competing Pittsburgh Pirates have hosted the Cardinals for a five game set that may serve as a deciding factor for the NL Central title. Pittsburgh has won the first four games, including a double-header sweep on Tuesday. The Pirates have outscored the Cardinals 22-7 so far this series.

Losing both ends of Tuesday’s double dip was not even the worst part of the day for the Cardinals. In the second game, National League MVP candidate Yadier Molina left in the third inning with a knee injury. Molina’s MRI would later reveal knee inflammation which landed him on the 15 day DL.

Before his injury, Molina had put together arguably the best season of his eleven year career. The National League’s starting catcher for the All-Star Game, Molina was batting .330 with an unusually high 54 RBI.

2.5 games out of first place and without their biggest asset for at least the next two weeks, the aging Cardinals are riding a five game losing streak and are tasked with keeping pace with the much younger and scrappy Pirates.

If Molina can return on time, he should be available for the final game of the Pirates/Cardinals series occurring from August 13-15 in St. Louis. Until their next meeting with the Pirates, the Cardinals will venture through a difficult segment of their schedule without their best player.

After tonight’s concluding game of this rare five game series, the Cardinals will travel to Cincinnati for a three game series with the 60-49 yet third place Reds. While in Cincinnati, the Cardinals pitching staff will be tasked with containing the Reds’ power threats in Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Shin-Soo Choo, and Brandon Philips who combine for 65 homeruns.

Following the Reds series, the Cardinals will return home to face the National League’s hottest team, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Though at home, this series will still be a test for the Cardinals as they encounter the explosive Dodger lineup who have the MLB’s best team average in July.

Without Molina, St. Louis can potentially face the impressive tandem of the 10-6 and ERA leading Clayton Kershaw and 8-3 Zach Greinke in the Dodger series and the 10-4 Mike Leake versus the Reds.

After meeting the Dodgers, the Cardinals will have somewhat of an easier matchup as they face off with the longtime foe Chicago Cubs.

Even without their All-Star closer, Jason Grilli, Pittsburgh has a much easier schedule before their next meeting with the Cardinals. The next three series for the Pirates will be against sub-.500 teams. The Pirates are slated to play the miserable last place Marlins in between two sets with the 51-58 Colorado Rockies.

Pittsburgh has it so good these next two weeks that when they play the Marlins, they will not even have to visit the hideous Marlins Park.

When the Pirates arrive in St. Louis for another crucial meeting, the standings could be determined by much more than 2.5 games. Although the Cardinals have the fifth best record in the major leagues, these next two weeks without Yadier Molina could be detrimental to their season.

The Cardinals will still have a strong team without Molina but they will be losing one of the lineup’s main catalysts. There will be added pressure on the aging bodies of Matt Holliday and Carlos Beltran for Molina’s leadership and production while more emphasis will be placed on Matt Carpenter for Molina’s reliability.

In recent years, it was the Pirates who fell apart at this time of the year due to injuries and slumping bats, however the tables may turn.

Depending on how this next stretch goes for the Cardinals could help Molina’s campaign for MVP. Unlike the Heisman Award in college football the MLB does not grant the award to the best player, but rather to the player who was the most valuable to his team, thus the name Most Valuable Player. If the Cardinals struggle without their elite backstop, it will prove his worth as the most valuable player on the team.