As the Cardinals rested Thursday, only six teams in baseball could say they had won eight times in their past 10 tries.
The locals were one of them.
Maybe the surging Royals, also winners of eight of their past 10 (and plenty more before that) will wind up with some competition for the Show-Me State’s best baseball team, after all.
No one is prematurely planning a Cardinals parade route, promise, but it’s nice to have some nice things to talk about for a change.
The Cardinals have created something resembling a spark. Their division remains up for grabs. They are very much alive in the National League wild-card race. They finally got that pesky first sweep beneath their belts, proving they can finish off an opponent that was on the ropes entering the final game of a series.
There’s fire in the dugout. There’s an improving vibe at the ballpark. There’s a certain rival coming into town for a Memorial Day weekend series.
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Should be fun. Should be impactful. Should be how Cards-Cubs is supposed to be.
Here are eight reasons — one for each win in the past 10 games — the Cardinals could have something good cooking this holiday weekend:
1. Finally, the power is percolating. The Cardinals have socked 13 homers in the past 10 games. That’s second-most in the NL during the small sample size. The team slugging percentage is .445 during this 10-game burst. Home runs aren’t just fun. They help you win.
2. A youth movement stirs. Nolan Gorman is powering up. Over his past 10 games, last season’s Cardinals home run leader is averaging .345 with a .472 on-base percentage and an .828 slugging percentage. Alec Burleson over the past 10 games has averaged .405 with a .421 on-base percentage and a .649 slugging percentage.
How about Masyn Winn? The sensational shortstop’s past 10 games: .378 average, .400 on-base percentage and .649 slugging percentage. Winn is the Cardinals’ current leader in wins above replacement, by the way. He’s up to 2.1, per Baseball Reference. He’s the only healthy position player with a WAR above 1.
3. Michael Siani is starting — and it’s working. The defense-first center fielder has started every game during the 10-game uptick. Seven of those 10 times, he’s played the whole game. Along with Winn, he gives the Cardinals what they stressed all offseason but flirted with going away from before thankfully returning to it, which is strong and steadfast defense up the middle.
And guess what? Siani is doing more at the plate the more he plays. He’s got a .603 on-base plus slugging percentage, a double, a homer and three steals over 29 at-bats over his past 10 games. In 29 at-bats this season, Dylan Carlson’s OPS reads .316. Siani is making winning plays for a team that needs wins. Stick with what’s working, right?
4. They’re winning one-run games. The Cardinals blocked a potential Brewers sweep on May 12 with a 4-3 win in Milwaukee. It became the first of three one-run games they’ve won during this encouraging jaunt. They have flipped the script on a previous trend and now are finally an even 6-6 in one-run nail-biters. Last season’s 71-win team lost nine more one-run games than it won.
5. The fifth-starter conundrum hasn’t caused the team to spin out — at least not yet. The Cardinals unfortunately let one rotation mistake become two. Trusting Steven Matz in a rotation heralded for its reliability was mistake No. 1. Removing Matthew Liberatore from a performing bullpen role to backfill for the injured Matz was mistake No. 2.
Instead of once again giving Zack Thompson the shot to start he earned during spring training, like they did when Sonny Gray got hurt during camp, the Cardinals overcomplicated things for reasons that make little sense despite team explanations.
But at least the damage has been mostly contained so far. The Cardinals won one of Liberatore’s rough, short starts by scoring 10 runs against the Angels. Solid starts by Gray and Lance Lynn in back-to-back fashion prevented a bullpen spiral in following games. It’s how you stop one bad start from becoming a dangerous swoon.
6. The bullpen keeps delivering. Cardinals relievers rank third in baseball in saves (17) and second in holds (39) while holding the second-best strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.13). These are not the 10-game numbers, either. They’re numbers for the season.
Ryan Helsley is looking like an All-Star again. He’s stacked four saves during the 10-game window and allowed just one hit and two walks throughout all of them. He’s finished an NL-high 20 games and saved an MLB-best 15. It seems like Helsley pitching fewer innings — he has not gone beyond one frame this season — while pitching more often was the right call after all.
7. Manager Oliver Marmol has been doing some good things. Smart things. Tactical things. Examples include icing an opposing pitcher in Los Angeles with a well-timed question for umpires about the Angels’ potential shift violation, getting tossed while sticking up for his guys in games that become wins, sticking with Siani and keeping Winn’s confidence up during a hint of a downturn before this current surge. Marmol has left some good fingerprints on this encouraging stretch of games.
It’s OK to admit that. Promise.
8. Last one: The Cardinals aren’t stopping to smell the roses. They know they created another big hole. Must keep climbing. Do it against the Cubs on a holiday weekend, and a spark could become a streak.