In terms of winning percentage, I would need a big upcoming season to stay off the hot seat. But if we’re going by batting average, I’m an All-Star, hitting a hair over .400.
My crystal ball’s predictions for the 2022 ºüÀêÊÓƵ sports scene netted some winners, some losers, and some reminders why trying to predict what will happen in our wacky world of sports — let alone bet on it — is risky business.
Looking back
• I had Adam Wainwright leading the Cardinals in quality starts and innings pitched before riding off with catcher Yadier Molina into retirement. Miles Mikolas beat him (not by much) in both categories, then Wainwright surprised me in coming back for one more ride. Wainwright loves to turn others’ doubts into motivation. He has a pipeline full of fresh fuel entering his age-41 season.
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• I accurately foreshadowed Major League Baseball owners and players solving their labor dispute before the regular season was ruined. A delayed spring training and a too-long lockout ended in time to salvage a full 162-game slate. By the time the World Series wrapped, baseball fans had mostly forgotten sour feelings toward labor strife and returned to more familiar feelings, like despising the Houston Astros.
• I whiffed on Cardinals outfielder Dylan Carlson becoming an All-Star. I was wise for worrying about outfielder Tyler O’Neill’s struggles to stay on the field. I figured the Cardinals’ front office would be more aggressive in addressing in-season roster weaknesses that developed. That last one was mostly true.
The trade-deadline additions of starters Jordan Montgomery and Jose Quintana helped reinforce a division winner. It wasn’t Juan Soto, but it was the most aggressive Cardinals trade deadline in years. If they don’t do more than sign free-agent catcher Willson Contreras this offseason, they will need to be even more aggressive at the next trade deadline. This team still is lacking compared to National League powers. No one is being fooled.
• I saw the Blues going deep into the last edition of the playoffs. Does a second-round ejection by the team that went on to win the Stanley Cup count? Who knows where the Blues might have gone had Nazem Kadri’s hit on Jordan Binnington not flipped a tied series. A deep run is not happening this time around. A postseason miss is more likely.
• Mizzou didn’t stick with men’s basketball coach Cuonzo Martin for another season like I figured, and the success Dennis Gates is having makes the coaching change look wise. Mizzou is off to its best start since Martin’s 2020-21 season, which began with a 13-3 surge that included big wins against No. 21 Oregon, No. 6 Illinois, No. 6 Tennessee, Kentucky and No. 10 Alabama before Jeremiah Tilmon’s family situation turned a season on its head. Some still are trying to rewrite the Martin era as all bad. I don’t get it. Regardless, Gates is doing a great job.
• I saw the Battlehawks coming back, but continue to wonder if this version of the XFL will catch fire with STL fans. The new ownership is awfully cuddly with the NFL, and now there’s the new Major League Soccer team to compete with for attention.
• I hoped Torry Holt’s Hall of Fame wait would end. It didn’t. At least the deserving Dick Vermeil got in. Hopefully Holt hears good news soon, but another crowded field could extend Holt’s waiting game.
Looking ahead
Here are the shots I’m calling for 2023:
• Cardinals star prospect Jordan Walker will make the big club out of spring training, and then win the National League Rookie of the Year Award. Big pressure? Yes. But he’s built to handle it. Also: New catching addition Contreras will be an All-Star.
• The Blues will turn the page. It always was hard to see now-injured Vladimir Tarasenko back with this team after this season, and now hopes of securing a contract extension for fellow pending free agent and captain Ryan O’Reilly are clouded not by just the salary cap situation, but the team’s struggles along with his injury. The most important part of this Blues season could boil down to making sure future ones turn out better.
• Mizzou football coach Eli Drinkwitz will hire a play-calling offensive coordinator, and his fate will hinge on that hiring. After Boise State hired coach Bush Hamdan, who moved the offense forward late in the season after taking over those duties, the Tigers took a step back in the bowl-game loss to Wake Forest with Drinkwitz back in the play-calling seat. Drinkwitz has an increased salary pool to play with. He has to nail this hiring, or he could wind up going down the Barry Odom road of receiving a buyout one season after receiving a raise and an extension.
• ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC will make the playoffs in its first season. Only eight expansion teams, and none since 2020, have pulled it off. City SC is not the traditional expansion team, though, thanks to the added time provided by the unfortunate pandemic. Proof will show on the pitch immediately.
• The Cardinals’ front office will see transition. The contracts of general manager Michael Girsch and assistant general manager and director of scouting Randy Flores were extended last season. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak is entering the final season of his deal. What it looks likes, who knows, but some changes are nearing.
• Speaking of the Cardinals’ front office, Mozeliak and his decision-makers will swing a significant trade for a proven starting pitcher before the regular season begins. I don’t buy their stated confidence in this current group. Too many question marks. Too many chances of even more question marks popping up at spring training.
• Mizzou men’s hoops team will win its first NCAA Tournament game since — checks notes — 2010. Frank Haith never won an NCAA Tournament game at Mizzou. Kim Anderson never coached in one. Martin went 0-2. Gates will get in and get at least one win in 2023. His now-ranked Tigers are grizzled, hungry and deeper than advertised.