Cardinals Retirement Tour Not Enough To Prevent Phillies Sweep

After an NL Central-winning campaign that felt more like a function of the Brewers making bad decisions than the Redbirds making good ones, the Cardinals were not expected to make a splash during the postseason. Despite their electric stretch towards the end of the 2021 season, much of the messaging centered around the 2022 season was on the decrescendo of the careers of three likely Hall of Famers in Adam Wainwright, Yadier Molina, and Albert Pujols.

The roster, a nostalgic but largely toothless playoff team, was not ready for a postseason berth and were exposed by a flawed but far more talented team.

The sweep against the Phillies in the Wild Card round by an aggregate 8-3 score was far from unexpected. The underdog in both games, St. Louis was unable to pull a rabbit from the hat despite some solid performances against their ouster—the team that eventually won the National League pennant—the Philadelphia Phillies. The Cardinals’ roster team was hardly comparable to ones like the Dodgers, Padres, or even the Mets and Mariners and, while this lineup may have been scary if a few players were about 12 years younger, the combination of inexperience and old age made it a foregone conclusion that they would lose in the playoffs.

Postseason Grade: C+

The Cardinals roster was massively flawed. Of 65 postseason at bats, 16 of them went to a player who was 40 or older. Their ace, Adam Wainwright was also over 40, and was struggling with a dead arm as the postseason approached. They weren’t expected to go very far, and they didn’t.

Regular Season MVP: Nolan Arenado

Arenado had an MVP-caliber season that makes him not opting out a frankly mind-boggling decision. Playing phenomenal third base defense and hitting the ball with the best of them reminded everyone that he’s certainly a top 2 third baseman in the league. Unfortunately, he disappeared in the playoffs when his team needed hitting the most, but a two game slump shouldn’t be counted too harshly against him.

Postseason MVP: Jose Quintana

Hard to give a postseason MVP to an underdog team that was swept at home but Jose Quintana was a huge reason as to why the Cardinals had a chance in Game One in the first place. There’s a strong argument to be made that he shouldn’t have been pulled so early, and his solid performances for the Cardinals made his trade deadline acquisition more than worth it.

Prominent Free Agents: Jose Quintana, Corey Dickerson

While none of these are players that the Cardinals will have to back up a money truck to re-sign, they are important depth and could command some money on the market. They are also older, so we’ll see if the Cardinals attempt to bring them back or look to get young.