Since the Boston Red Sox last bested the Cardinals nearly 11 years ago in one of their recurring World Series appointments, the Red Sox have had three last-place finishes and the Cardinals have slowly faded and fallen, like the leaves, into a decadelong cold snap without a World Series appearance.
For these two October rivals, once legends of fall now just legends after a fall, who is closer to a return to postseason prominence?
With the Red Sox in ºüÀêÊÓƵ for the first time since 2017, the year before their most recent championship, . In the stands late Friday night at Busch Stadium with the sounds of a winding-down ballpark all around them, ºüÀêÊÓƵ baseball writer Derrick Goold and Abraham discuss the similarities between the two teams, the impatience of their respective fanbases, their shared history, and their shared challenge of returning to meet expectations as some of their peers widen the gap on spending and what it means to go all-in for a championship. Like, say, the Red Sox once did.
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Change is either the goal or the need -- for both clubs.
And depending on how 2024 turns out for them, change could be forced upon them.
But somethings that won't are the ties that bind Boston and the Cardinals.
As the Cardinals look to regain an edge and rethink how they develop players (especially pitchers), they've hired former Boston general manager Chaim Bloom, and as Boston prepares for the possibility of manager Alex Cora's departure when his contract expires at the end of this season, it's possible a former Cardinal (or few) could emerge as candidates to replace him as the Red Sox have shifted to a new direction beneath Cora's feet. Abraham details the forces in play when it comes to Boston's new front office direction, new pitching coach, and how that all fits with the pre-existing manager who led them to their most recent World Series championship. The longtime baseball writer, who opined for the Globe throughout Bloom's tenure leading the Sox, also offers a viewpoint on what role he could best serve with the Cardinals going into a new era.
The two baseball writers also discuss Tyler O'Neill's first impression with his new team after being traded from the Cardinals to the Red Sox, and what could be his future at Fenway Park as a pending free agent.
Former Cardinal Tyler O'Neill made his first visit to Busch Stadium after a December trade that sent him to the Boston Red Sox.
The Red Sox, off to a strong and even surprising start, arrived in ºüÀêÊÓƵ with the lowest team ERA in the majors -- before, that is, the Cardinals scored 10 runs to win the first game of the series -- and behind that radical reduction in ERA is a shift in pitching approach. Abraham, , explains the change Boston made, the pushback it got from some pitchers, and ultimately the strong results that won games and won over pitchers even while upending convention and throwing fewer fastballs. It's an innovation and response to the talent they have on the pitching staff that the Cardinals, likewise, are looking to make. Yet another overlap for the organizations.
The biggest connection, of course, could be the fan bases, which Abraham deftly describes by borrowing from another member of Major League Baseball's royal franchises: the Yankees. He quotes New York executive Brian Cashman's description of how the Yankees play 162 one-game series with all the pressure and attention and expectation that comes with everything being on the line that day. That fits for Boston and ºüÀêÊÓƵ, too. And pressure is building in both places.
The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of ºüÀêÊÓƵ, is a production of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ, , and Derrick Goold. It is part of the constant Cardinals coverage at and in the pages of the morning Post-Dispatch.
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