With a team as well-rounded as the Cardinals, it’s actually a bit of a challenge to pick out just four guys who will have a significant impact on the 2014 season. Sure, there are MVP and Cy Young candidates, but there’s also established veterans playing important roles and a new wave of talent that’s starting […]

While everyone expects the Cardinals to have a playoff spot pretty much locked in, there are still a few questions that are left to be answered. For some teams, the questions asked here are big ones, involving things that may make or break a season. For St. Louis, these are more “hey, wouldn’t it be […]

The Cardinals don’t make this easy on us. Heading into the offseason, they had two pretty clear weaknesses — outfield defense and shortstop offense. They traded for Peter Bourjos and signed Jhonny Peralta. Problems solved. And now we have to try to nitpick two other weaknesses for an impressively complete club. How about their struggles […]

The Cardinals have been the class of the National League for the past few seasons, making three straight NLCS appearances and advancing to the World Series twice. Not only have they had more big league success than just about anyone, but they also boast some of the best prospects in the game that are now […]

Today, we’ll be wrapping up NL Central preview week with a look at the reigning, defending National League champion St. Louis Cardinals. St. Louis had a dogfight on their hands a year ago, but managed to prevail in the NL Central and eventually the entire National League, knocking off the scrappy Pirates and well-paid Dodgers […]

With some of these "four horsemen" lists, maybe we've tried to be a bit tricky and clever. A team's four best players aren't necessarily the same as the four who could have the biggest influence on whether or not the season is successful. But that's really not the case with the Pirates. The Bucs need […]

The Pirates go into the 2014 season with major questions at the right field and first base positions. The fifth starter is also a concern, but Pittsburgh should have enough arms to cover that. Though the Pirates return largely the same club that won an NL wild-card bid last season, the team carries a few […]

Starting pitching was not a problem for the Pirates last season, a big reason why they returned to the postseason for the first time in 21 years. Pittsburgh starters finished with a 3.50 ERA in 2013, the fourth-best mark in the NL, while an opponents' .667 OPS led the league. The rotation had depth, getting […]

There is already a rift growing in the Phillies clubhouse between new manager Ryne Sandberg and long-time shortstop Jimmy Rollins. Sandberg benched Rollins on Tuesday, benched him on Wednesday, and will bench him once again on Thursday. – all while not talking to him and firing not so subtle shots at him through the media. […]

After second-half collapses led to fourth-place finishes in 2012 and 2013, the Pirates finally compiled a winning record and returned to the postseason for the first time since 1992. It was a long time coming. Pittsburgh deeply enjoyed the Bucs following through on early-season promise, overtaking the Reds for the NL's first wild-card spot and […]

There were a lot of cool things that happened during the 2013 MLB season. But perhaps the coolest was meaningful baseball happening in Pittsburgh for the first time in 20 years. The Pirates made the Postseason and took the eventual NL champion Cardinals to five games in the NLDS before bowing out. It was a […]

The Reds are going to try once again to make the leap from playoff also-ran to actual World Series threat. To make that happen though they are going to need big contributions from a core of players. Joey Votto Joey Votto is just about as reliably great as one can be. He is going to […]

When you go all-in for a playoff run, end up losing in the Wild Card game, then fire your longtime manager and let your two big free agents walk away and sign virtually no one. You better bet that you are going to have a lot of question answer, especially if you expect people to […]

The Reds rid themselves of Dusty Baker this offseason, which should be a step forward for the team and their offense as Baker created a lot of self-inflicted wounds with his outdated strategies. But just because Baker is no longer around doesn't mean that the problem is solved. One of the ongoing issues with Baker […]