Cardinals v. Brewers: A Study in Contrasts

I shouldn’t be doing this, rooting for the Cardinals, that is. A rich team, with a winning tradition, and a mad-scientist manager playing against a team that hasn’t won in almost thirty years. But I am and I’m not apologizing for it.


The Brewers have turned into a caricature of a baseball team. Lead by a lunatic center fielder who was discarded by both the Pirates and the Nationals, they’ve turned into a chest pounding, look-at-me bad joke. In the pressure of the NLCS, their defense has fallen apart, their offense has been inconsistent and their pitching ordinary.

The Cardinals shouldn’t, by any measure, be playing in October. They lost Adam Wainwright, one of their best pitchers, before the season even started. They struggled to score runs, Matt Holiday was in and out with illnesses and injuries and King Albert didn’t have his usual extraordinary season. They relied instead on Lance Berkman, who surprised everyone with an excellent offensive year in the twilight of his career. All Berkman did was hit over .300 with 31 homers and 94 RBIs after the Yankees and Astros gave up on him.

The Cardinals also added by subtracting. They unloaded Colby Rasmus, their every day center fielder who insisted on using dear old Dad as his hitting coach and added starting pitcher Edwin Jackson. Rasmus, presumably with his father’s help, batted .225 for Toronto. Jackson, since early September has won every game he’s pitched.

And so we head to Milwaukee for Game 6, with the Cardinals leading 3 games to 2.  Tony LaRussa shuffling pitchers in and out with surgical precision and the Brewers beating their chests.