Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Would TRADING Willson Contreras Be A Stroke of Genius or Another St. Louis Cardinals' BLUNDER?
Episode Date: October 7, 2025Cardinals trade rumors heat up as Willson Contreras' future hangs in the balance. Could a potential deal with the Mets reshape St. Louis' roster?JD Hafron breaks down the proposed Contreras-for-Viento...s swap, analyzing its impact on the Cardinals' lineup and payroll. The discussion shifts to St. Louis' promising prospects in the Arizona Fall League, spotlighting standouts like 6'7" Taiwanese hurler Chen Wei Lin and outfielder Travis Honeyman. JD caps off with crucial MLB playoff updates, dissecting the Dodgers' nail-biting win over the Phillies and the Brewers' unexpected power explosion against the Cubs.Tune in for expert analysis on the Cardinals' offseason strategy and how it could shape their 2024 World Series aspirations.0:00 Intro: Hypothetical Cardinals-Mets trade discussion5:10 Analyzing the proposed Contreras-Vientos trade13:20 Cardinals prospects in Arizona Fall League24:37 MLB playoffs: Brewers dominate, Dodgers winFollow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-st-louis-cardinals/Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/mlb/Follow on Twitter/X: @JDSPORTSRADIOFollow the show on Twitter/X: @LO_CardinalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!RugietReady to level up your confidence ? Head to https://rugiet.com and use promo code LOCKEDONMLB for 15% off your first order. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONMLB at https://monarchmoney.com/lockedonmlb for 50% off your first year.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)#ForTheLou #stlcards #mlb #lockedoncardinals #stlouiscardinals Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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How about a hypothetical trade between the Cardinals and the Mets involving Wilson Contreras?
One has emerged.
Is it good?
Is it bad?
A little bit of both.
We'll talk about it on today's episode of Locked-on Cardinals.
You are Locked-on Cardinals.
Your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day.
Hey, there are Cardinals fans.
I'm J.D. Hafford, a former national radio sports anchor born and raised in St.
and a lifetime Cardinals fan. I'm your host for Locktown Cardinals. Part of the Locktown Podcast
Network covering your team every day. This is a show that's serving Cardinal Nation,
giving the best fans in baseball, all the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode
brought to you by Game Time, download the Game Time app, create an account,
use the code Locktime MLB for $20 off your first purchase. On today's episode,
we're going to be previewing the Cardinals prospects that are participating in the Arizona
Fall League. The team that the Cardinals are on is actually going to get started today.
So we'll introduce you to some of those guys.
We're going to take a gander at what's going on in the MLB playoffs, Dodgers,
Brewers, Blue Jays, all looking pretty nasty.
Looking a little scary here in the month of October,
which is a good time to look scary.
But today we're going to start with an idea that was brought up recently by a former Mets GM
involving a trade between the Mets and the Cardinals.
The Cardinals are probably going to be making some deals, right?
They're probably going to make some deals.
Hyne Bloom's probably going to be working the phone lines this offseason.
Who and what teams involved, obviously, is going to be up for debate until things get cooking.
We'll have plenty of time to go through those.
So I like doing this in the off season where we just, we find areas in the internet
where people are talking about different trades that are involving the Cardinals,
ways to improve their teams, ways to improve the Cardinals.
And when they pop up, I like to talk about them and see,
because sometimes they're fun. Sometimes they're actually not bad idea. Sometimes they're
absolutely foolish. But I got a lot of requests for some traded free agent talk. And so this
one came across the desk over this weekend. And I thought, hey, let's chat about it on Tuesday when I get back in.
So of the three veterans on the Cardinals right now with no trade clauses, you've got Wilson Contreras.
Seems like the least likely to get moved, right? You know, when Mo approached him about getting moved last off season,
he made it known that he prefer to stick around, enjoys being a Cardinal.
Now this offseason new president of baseball operations,
Heim Blum, also has talked with Wilson Contreras and stated that Wilson once again
would prefer to stay with the Cardinals.
And I appreciate the loyalty.
I really do.
Heim did say, though, that, you know, something came up and it made sense for both Wilson
and the Cardinals that Wilson would be more than happy to take a look at it.
But it's clear from these conversation, at least to me,
that Willie wants to be in St. Loz. He likes being a Cardinal. He enjoys it.
And, you know, he wants to have a positive impact on this organization moving forward over the last couple of years that he's got a contract with them.
And, you know, he wants to be a reason why this thing gets back on the track, so to speak, and headed in the right direction.
And I think that's great. I think that's great. At the same time, you can't not look around and see if there are some deals.
I mean, I think teams would be interested in Wilson Contreras,
especially now that he can play first base.
I think that that adds an added dimension to him where maybe people didn't like
what he did behind the play, but now he played a pretty good first base at here.
So I feel like that might entice some people to be a little more interested.
Now, who is Zach Scott?
Does anybody know who Zach Scott is?
Raise your hand if you know who Zach Scott is because he was the Mets GM back in 2021.
He took over for Jared Porter after he was let go.
He didn't last very long in the position.
It was less than a year, I believe.
But either way, at one point, he was the GM of the New York Mets.
So that's who he is, came up with this trade idea recently involving the Mets and the Cardinals.
He was looking for it because he does, you know, talk about what the Mets need to do.
He still talks about them.
So we're all familiar with the catastrophic demise of the Mets this year.
They fell apart so badly during the second half of the season.
that they failed to make the playoffs despite signing Juan Soto to that 15-year $765 million deal.
They brought back Pete Alonso on a two-year deal.
They signed Clay Holmes and Frankie Montas and Griffin Canning.
They made trades with the Cardinals for Ryan Helsley.
They went and got Gregory Soto and Cedric Mullins, and all of it failed miserably.
They went 3855 to close the season, and the Reds ended up making the playoffs instead of them.
So some changes are going to come for the Mets as well, just like we expect.
expect changes for the Cardinals. So for these two teams to hook up again on a deal like they did
with the Ryan Housley deal, that wouldn't shock me, not at all. It didn't work out so well for the
match. Ryan Housley was not very good with New York, which did not surprise me at all.
A jury is still out on the prospects that the Cardinals got in return for Ryan Housley. And in this
particular trade, this one's not about prospects, which is more fun. It's about players that you're
familiar with. It's about players who are on the active roster. So here is the proposal,
uh, as made by one Zach Scott, former GM of the New York Mets. The Cardals would trade first
baseman Wilson Contreras to New York and exchange for Mark Vento's. Now Scott's thought process here,
he explained it is that the, you know, the Mets would would move on from Pete Alonzo and try to
improve themselves defensively. His idea is that Soto would shift to a full-time DH, which is
hilarious to me that you would pay 15, you would give 15 years in $765 million for the D.H.
That's all he's got to do is hit. Wow.
Then you replace Pete Alonzo with a better defender, aka Wilson Contreras,
who was very good at first base in his first year playing the physician and also wasn't too shabby with the stick,
257, 20 dingers, 80 ribbies, OPS 791 in 135 games, nowhere near the production that Pete
Alonzo gave you, but he's also not going to cost as much as Pete Alonzo probably will,
who's more than likely going to opt out of that two-year deal and hit the free agent market again.
Mark Vientos.
Now, Mark Vientos is 25 years old.
If you're unfamiliar with him, he can play both corner infield positions at a really nice
2025 season, hitting 2024 season, I'm sorry, hitting 266 with 27 dingers, 71 RBIs,
OPS plus of 134.8 award 3.1 in just 111 games. He was really, really good. A big surprise,
really for the Mets. He was a highly regarded hitter coming up through their system, but I don't
think they were expecting that much production in his first, you know, full year there. And it seemed
though, that like he was ready to become one of the next big sluggers in that Mets lineup,
along with Alonzo and Soto and Francisco Lind Dorr. But 2025 was a bit of a struggle. In April, he hit just
212, four home runs, 15 RBIs.
May, just two home runs and six RBIs.
And then June, he hurts his hamstring.
This is almost the whole month.
July, one home run, 10 RBIs as he tries to, you know, get his timing back.
Then he heats up in August.
August was great for him.
278, eight home runs, 22 rebis before crashing and burning again in September
when he fell to 184 with two home runs and eight RBIs.
Again, on the year, he finishes at 233, 17 dinger, 61 RBIs, OPS plus 97th.
pretty disappointing overall.
You know, he had the one really good month,
and then everything else was well below average.
So, um,
and look at the money wise.
Does it make sense?
Money wise,
you got Willie making $18 million in 2020,
18 and a half and 27,
club option for 28 at 17.5 million.
Viantos made just under $789K last year.
He is pre-arbitration eligible next season,
but then the arbitration will kick in in 2027.
So you've got them under control.
for quite some time. Money-wise, this makes a lot of sense for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Out with the older way, more expensive player and with a younger, more economically friendly
player, more upside, in my opinion, with Viantos as far as offense, because he's almost
10 years younger than Wilson Contreras. Contreras, eventually, the slide will begin. It'll happen.
And you don't want to be, you know, caught when it starts to go down. We've seen how that happened
with Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Aronado, you don't want to be on the hook for a couple of years
with a guy who's going the wrong direction.
So offensively, you like the upside of Vienzo's defensively, though.
He was awful, terrible at third base, fielding percentage of 950 is defensive red saver,
negative 10, outs above average, minus seven, just to put it in perspective.
And we know how Nolan Gorman struggled to get reacclimated to third base.
although he got better as he spent more time over there,
but he was minus three BRS and minus nine outs above average.
So Viantos was worse than Nolan Gorman.
Just think about that.
It's quite the drop from Nolinar and out of the past few seasons.
Now Viantos, he was better at first base,
but they didn't play there very much.
I only locked 23 innings.
The Cardinals need offense in a major way.
They need a slugger.
They'd prefer to save money and move on from the aging,
expensive veterans. You can't stick him at third base if you were to make a deal like this.
But if you're just swapping the two out and you were like, all right, Viantos for Contreras, Viento
stays at first. You could see the logic. You could see the logic for this for the Cardinals.
Viantos coming off kind of a bad year, though. So it's not like his stock is real high.
You're in a way buying low on him because if you tried to trade for him after, you know, 24.
more. They'd have been like way more expensive.
And Willie was good here in this last year, the OPS Plus at 122.
You like them at first base.
But he's going to continue to be that good?
Or is he going to start to dip as we get into his mid-30?
So let me know in the comments section below on your thoughts on a deal like this.
Would you be willing?
And of course, Wilson has to sign off on this because he's got the no trade clause
and he would have to want to go to New York.
I don't know if that's something he would want to do.
my gut instinct is no he does not want to be in the city of new york uh he seems that very
comfortable in the midwest but um you know if you get to play hymn bloom right now would you
swing a deal like this if it was available and willie said yes and then use the money that
you're saving instead of paying wilson contraris you could use that on pitching what do you
think does it sound good enough to pull the trigger let me know uh Arizona
Arizona Fall League started this week, started on Monday.
Actually, the team that the Cardinals are prospects are playing on will actually start today.
I'm going to go through the participants, the prospects that the Cardinals have in the Arizona Fall League.
We'll talk about those coming up next on Locked on Cardinals.
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Each year, teams and players and prospects to the Arizona Fall League.
Some of you might be familiar with the AFL.
Some of you may not be.
So this is for players who they want to get some extra reps in, a little extra seasoning,
maybe some guys that are that are prospects that were injured a little bit during the season
and didn't get a full workload during the regular season.
and the Cardinals would like to see them, you know, finish their year, you know, get to a certain level of at bats or innings and whatnot.
Once again, they got a group of players that are going.
They got eight people this year and going to be a part of the Glendale Desert Dogs.
Their group will join members of the Blue Jays, the Braves, the Dodgers, and the White Sox.
Here are the selected members from your St. Louis Cardinals, Chinway Lynn, right-handed pitcher, Tyler Bratt,
right-handed pitcher DJ Carpenter, right-handed pitcher.
Randall Clement, right-handed pitcher, or is it Clemente?
Can't say I'm super familiar with all these guys.
Travis Honeyman, outfielder, Darlin Saladin.
Saladin, I think is how I pronounce it.
He's another right-handed pitcher.
Grayson Tarlo is a catcher, Migueliguetto, is an outfielder.
The name that's going to stand out of these, the ones that I'm familiar with,
because I got to be, I don't know every prospect.
the Cardinals have, okay?
But the name that stands out in a big way, both on and off the field in this list,
is going to be Chen Wei Lin.
All right.
He's a 6'7 Taiwanese right-hander.
And he's huge.
All right, I got a picture of him if you're watching on YouTube, like very Adam
Wainwrighty, you know, like he's very lean, very thin, long arms, long legs.
He's the number of 16 prospect for the Cardinals, according to M.LB.
pipeline. And this past season, he played at three different levels. He began at Palm Beach,
moved up to Peoria, then got to Springfield. Now, some of these numbers are not going to jump
off the page at you. They're just not. All three levels combined, 17 starts,
oh and two with an ERA of 5.54. All right. You're like, oh, what? What? How's this guy your
number 16 prospect? All right, here's how. First off, he didn't throw very deep into games.
only through 50 and a third innings this year and 17 starts.
So if we do math, which we can do real quick,
just to kind of help the cause here.
But there we go.
Gagler, 50 divided by 17.
So we're talking three innings is what he did.
And again, 17 starts.
So they weren't pushing him.
70 strikeouts in those 50 and a third inning.
opponents hit just $199.99 against him. Now, there's a bit of an explanation to that.
At Palm Beach in 24, he was very good. 10 and 5, kind of breakout season for him. 10 and 5,
2.79 ERA. Arm talent is there, obviously. The guy can hit triple digits. Fantastic.
He's only 23 years old. Awesome. Control issues. That has been the biggest hurdle for Chenway
Lent. M. M.B. wrote this, that he can show off three pitches.
95, 97 comfortably with the fastball, 82, 84 slider, upper 80s change up.
They say the last of which is his best offering.
They like that a lot.
Certainly a guy that you want to keep an eye on this fall.
But when you're not throwing strikes, people aren't going to swing as much at your pitches.
And obviously, when you're not throwing strikes, people aren't going to hit it very often.
So, 199 batting average against can be a little bit deceiving.
there's another one of these prospects that's got similar numbers where you're going to be like, wow,
but then you're like, oh, that's why.
So that that's obviously a huge, huge piece of what could be the Cardinals puzzle,
whether he's going to be a starter, whether he's going to be a reliever at some point.
But you love the size, you love the velocity, and you just got to, you know, reel it in is what you got to do and you'll be able to throw more strikes.
And if you think Lynn is big, the next guy on the list, you're not going to miss when he's
standing in line somewhere and in front of you at the movies.
And that would be the 6 foot 8 DJ Carpenter.
6 foot 8, 25 year old former 14th round pick at Oregon State in 2022, made 36 relief
appearances this year at Peoria, 3 and 2 record, 5.35 ERA.
Can't teach size.
You can try to take advantage of it, which is what they're going to try to do.
Randall Clemente is a 23-year-old righty out of the Dominican Republic.
MLB said this about.
on him that he climbed three levels as a reliever, can touch the upper 90s and flash a plus plus
slider, though his control is also a major question mark. So here you go, 76Ks in 53
innings at Palm Beach. Very nice, very nice. Also at Peoria and Springfield,
I should mention that at all three levels, that's all those combined.
Opponents only hit 170 against it. Whoa. So let's see, 76ks, 53 innings,
only hitting 170 against him. All right, what's wrong with him?
control had 40 walks in those 53 innings as well. He's like nuke La Luch from Bull Durham.
Darlin Saladin is also a 23-year-old righty out of the DR. He was at Peoria this year making 26
appearances and 13 starts. 3 and 5, 4.85 ERA. I think I'm saying his name right. I apologize if I'm not.
Tyler Bratt is a 24-year-old right-hander from East Carolina, 16th round pick back in 23.
This past year he spent time to both Peoria and Springfield when it combined.
two and five with a 2.98 ERA over 37 appearances. So you like that. He made three starts.
Opponents hit only 192 against them. But again, control issues seem to be the biggest problem here.
He walked 47 hitters in 63 and a third innings. He did have 68 strikeouts.
So again, teach these boys some control. Hopefully they become better pitchers for it.
Offensive players consist of outfielder Travis Honeyman, who was the 11th rated prospect in the Cardinals organization.
just last year in 2024, but has fallen outside of the top 30 now.
He was a third round pick out of Boston College back in 2023.
This year he hit 287 and 82 games for Palm Beach and Peoria.
He has very little power.
He does not steal many bases, although he's got above average speed.
The OVP is something that stood out to me, though.
He had a 4-11 on-base percentage.
So good eye at the plate, doesn't chase a lot of stuff, takes walks, gets on base.
You like guys like that, you know, having people on the base,
is a good thing, you know?
How many times did we complain this year about guys just up at the plate with non-competitive
at bats and just not working their way on base, not taking walks and not taking singles
and this and that and just looking lost.
Like, see a guy with an OBP of 411.
I'm intrigued because the guy knows how to get on base and that's going to cause problems
for the opposition.
Catcher, Grayson Tarlow, 24 years old, former 19th round pick in 2023, hit 296 with Peoria and Springfield this year.
I'm not going to lie.
I wasn't looking for Grayson Tarlo as a catcher to be in the AFL this year.
I would have rather have seen somebody like Raynaud Rodriguez or Leonardo Bernal, you know, one of these top catching prospects for the Cardinals in their organization.
But instead you get Grayson Tarlow.
Okay. And last was 23-year-old outfielder, Migueliguetto, who spent some time at Palm Beach in Peoria, mostly at AA Springfield, though, this year, hit 254, only two home runs, 27 RBIs, 11 stolen bases. The team, like I said, Glendale, they're going to be playing their first game today. It's an afternoon game. What is it, Glendale? What? Oh, no, I got to look us up again. Glendale Desert Dogs.
Glendale Desert Dogs.
We're all big fans of the Desert Dogs.
Now, first game today, Honeyman is batting, Honeyman is batting cleanup.
Tarlow is behind the dish.
So we'll keep you posted throughout the fall on how these guys do.
Sometimes it's really cool.
You get to see some of these guys do some really special things.
Victor Scott was somebody who was there not that long ago and had really good numbers.
And it was something that kind of put them on the map as far as making the Major League Club.
So Thomas C.J.C. recently also did very.
well, the AFL.
So we'll keep an eye on it and see how things are progressing over the fall season.
It's not long.
They only play for like a month.
So, but yeah, so we'll see.
Hopefully some good news comes out of that.
Up next, we're going to talk about the MLB playoffs because it's playoff time.
The Cardinals aren't there and I'm sad.
But at the same time, there are some reasons to make Cardinals fans smile at this point
of the year.
Has something to do with that Milwaukee and Cubs series that might be making you guys a little
happy. So we'll get into that coming up next on Locked on Cardinals.
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So the NLDS took center stage on Monday night with the Dodgers hanging on to beat the Phillies,
four to three.
The Brewers beat up on those cubbies again, seven to three.
My first thought watching the playoffs is that, you know, this stinks because we don't
get to see our Cardinals in the postseason for the third straight season.
I see the crowds and I see how much fun everybody's having and I really miss it.
And I'm like, wow, we haven't seen this since, whoa, poohles and Yadi and Waino three years ago, man.
It seems like it's been 10 years, though.
Second thought that comes to mind, the Brewers picking on the Cubs is probably making some Cardinal fans happy, right?
Brewers win with a bullpen game on Monday, fell behind three to nothing on a Seizuqi three run shot.
Remember, he got hot at the end of the year against the Cardinals.
he's been hot in the playoffs, hits a three-run shot in the first,
and the Brewers still went on to dominate this game by a score of 7 to 3.
Chuck from Locked on Brewers was saying before the playoffs began that, you know,
the Brewers, they just needed a break.
They were kind of running on fumes there at the end of the regular season,
and they really needed a break.
They wanted to rest up, and he said they're going to be fine,
I promise you.
They're going to be better in the playoffs than you've seen recently.
And he was a lion after smoking the Cubs in game one by a score of 93.
They score seven unanswered runs to Barry Chicago again in game two.
And they did it with the long ball, which is not something that the brewers did a whole lot of this year.
Andrew Vaughn, who they got from the White Sox for Aaron Savali.
It just seemed like, hey, we're just getting Savali out of here.
He doesn't want to be here anymore.
Okay, we'll take Andrew Vaughn.
He's now bad to clean up for these guys.
Tied it up in the bottom of the first with a three-run jack off Shotai and Managa.
Then it was Willie's brother, William, with the solo blast against him in the third.
any of the give the lead to the Brewers. Then it was Jackson Churio. Three runs in the fourth off Palencia, makes it seven to three. All three home runs came with two outs as well. So talk about back breakers.
Brewers are now up in the series. Two games to none. I have a chance to sweep the Cubs on Wednesday in Chicago. I can't say I'm surprised by any of this. I didn't think Chicago. We saw that first half, Chicago, the first half of the season, and they were pretty darn good. And then we saw the offense just fall off a cliff. And for the most part,
none of it has picked back up.
I'm curious what Kyle Tucker is going to make this offseason
because this second half has been ugly.
It's been ass, yes, has been ugly,
and he ain't doing much in the playoffs either.
On the other side of the NLBS, Dodgers,
take down the Phillies four to three,
thanks to a late rally by Philly,
who scored two in the ninth to make an interesting.
Former Cardinal Tommy Edmund, almost,
almost choked it away at the end.
He spiked the final ground ball for the final out of the game,
and he spikes it in the dirt.
and tying run was on third base.
So that's scoring.
And Freddie Freeman made an outstanding pick and was somehow able to stay on the bag as well.
And it ended almost a disaster there for Tommy Edmund, who was over for at the plate with 2Ks, hitting just 182 in the postseason.
Far cry from the numbers we saw him do last year.
Harrison Bader had a pitch at single for the Phillies that ninth inning.
But it was all about the pitching in this one.
Blake Snell, Hesuzzardo, both of them were excellent.
Snell was just a little bit better, more dominant.
Once again, nine Ks and six innings.
Postseason usually comes down to pitching, right?
You know, we saw it back when the Cardinals were winning postseason games,
when you saw the great efforts from guys like Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright,
obviously Jeff Supan, you know, Anthony Reyes against the Detroit Tigers.
Like you see these games and you're like, wow, they hold these good offenses at bay.
and now these teams, you know, they're, they're starting to piggyback.
They're good starters because their bullpins are kind of the weak spots for these teams.
Dodgers have been doing it in this series and they did it against the Reds as well,
kind of set the tone with this idea where they're like, well, our best pitchers are starters.
So we're just going to keep bringing them in.
So that's kind of what people are doing now is like the Phillies are set to start
Aaron Nola and then Ranger Suarez this year.
and Suarez was a better starter than Nola this year,
but they want to give the Dodgers a different look.
I'm sure it's one of the things I brought up.
It was like three left-handers in a row.
Probably not a great idea.
ALDS today, Seattle and Detroit, series tied in one.
Toronto looking to finish off Paul Goldsman,
the Yankees tonight in New York with a 2-0 series lead,
back-to-back three to two games between the Mariners and the Tigers
who will have former Cardinal Jack Flaherty.
Getting the start, hasn't faced anyone except the Guardians since September 10,
three straight starts against Cleveland.
Mariner is certainly a different animal than Cleveland is offensively.
So good luck, Jack.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jays have been curb stomping the Yankees,
outscoring them 23 to 8 in the first two games,
which I believe was an MLB record for the most runs scored
in the first two games of the postseason for a team.
When the Cardinals played Toronto this past year,
I remember pointing it out we saw how exhausting that lineup can be.
Like they just put the ball in play.
they foul the ball off all the time.
They don't strike out a lot.
They were very, very annoying to play.
They were just like exhausting was my best description of them.
And this is a Blue J team that doesn't have one of their best in Bo Bichette right now.
Same with the Brewers.
You know, the Brewers are one of those teams that just,
they just take great at bats against you.
And, you know, I hope one day that's how the Cardinals will look offensively.
I'm not expecting them to all of a sudden have three or four,
30 home run guys in their lineup,
especially playing a Bush Stadium,
doesn't make as much sense, but I want them to be exhausting to pitch against.
And we saw them kind of look like that in the first couple months of the season,
but then it faded off after the month of May,
and you saw their record go down, down, down the rest of the way as well.
So I hope they can get back to that in 2026, that kind of style,
that kind of approach, just be a pain of the butt when you're in the box.
Just be annoying.
And I feel like that can take a team like the Cardinals.
they can benefit from that and win more ball games and get back to having a 500 record again.
All right, that's going to wrap it up.
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