The Cardinals have pulled out an impressive turnaround in the second half, but where did it come from?
Fans were quick to blame Mike Matheny for the less than stellar first half of the 2018 season and you can’t blame them. The team was in third place in their division with a record of 47-46 when he was fired on July 14th, just before the All Star break. The Cardinals had just lost to the Reds 8-2 that Saturday before Matheny and the hitting coach and assistant coach John Mabry and Bill Mueller were relieved of their duties. It was looking like the team would be missing the postseason for a third season in a row, in a city where making a postseason run in expected, even if it is only short-lived.
Was this truly Mike Matheny’s fault? It is no secret that players were unhappy with the way he was managing the clubhouse. It started with the franchise’s president, John Mozeliak, questioning Dexter Fowler’s work ethic. Reports came out later that there was some unresolved tension between the two. He later used Bud Norris as a glorified tattletale to report back to him on what the other players were doing, in particular, rookie flamethrower Jordan Hicks. Matheny condoned and encouraged the harassment of Hicks. Now, regardless of whether or not it was deserved, Matheny should have been disciplining him or benching him if there was an issue. He has been known to play “his guys,” even if they are in a slump and there is a better guy on the bench. This has likely resulted in losses over Matheny’s rein, with slumping players playing every day with better performing players waiting in the wings. Matheny was not making the best managerial decisions, consistently waiting too long to pull pitchers.
There are also plenty of things to consider before pointing fingers at Matheny. First and foremost, this is a professional baseball team. The players are paid to perform well, regardless of whether they are thrilled with the clubhouse situation. Also, the list of injuries came at no fault to Matheny. He could not have predicted having to play without Adam Wainwright, Carlos Martinez, Michael Wacha and Paul Dejong. He also could not have predicted players underperforming in the first half, like Matt Carpenter in May, Marcell Ozuna, Greg Holland, Tommy Pham and Dexter Fowler, just to name a few. The offense was inconsistent, plenty of games were lost because the offense simply failed to show up. The bullpen was a mess, to put it lightly. Greg Holland, a late sign, was inconsistent at best. He walked four batter straight in his debut, threw a couple good innings but never became the solid closer that he was expected to be. No matter how badly he was doing, he was still getting pretty consistent playing time for a reliever. A couple of good innings is not worth losing other games because he is unable to find the strike zone. Finally, Matheny had to manage a team that was given to him by the front office. He does not make the calls on who is traded or signed, he is expected to do his best with what he has been given. Maybe he was just a scapegoat, covering for poor decision made by his superiors. However, with the Cardinals poised to miss the postseason for the third time in a row, something needed to change, something significant.
This brings us to Mike Shildt, a man who played baseball in college, but has never played professional baseball. He joined the organization in 2009 and became the bench coach in 2017. He was promoted to interim manager after the firing of Matheny and collected his first victory, 6-4 against the Reds, on his first day on the job. The Cardinals are currently in second place in their division, four and a half games behind the first place Cubs. The team does hold one of the NL wildcard spots, and stands half a game ahead in the wildcard race, ahead of Milwaukee, who currently has the second spot. This team does appear to be a different team from the first half of the season. They seem to be rejuvenated and hot and ready to win. The lineup has been shaken up, with Yadier Molina consistently batting second and others getting moved around. The offense is getting more hits and putting more men on base. Shildt also takes a more aggressive approach to managing, in particular, he is pulling pitchers more quickly. It can be hard to judge when to pull pitchers, it can shake their confidence if they are pulled too quickly, but it also hurts them if they are left in too long and give up a bunch of runs. He is playing Harrison Bader and Kolten Wong almost every day and their incredible defense has helped the team immensely.
Shildt is managing a better team. Team morale appears to be higher than ever, gaining even more fuel with every win. Matt Carpenter has been hot throughout this second half, with 4.9 WAR. The bullpen has seen some changes. Some young arms have been brought up, with Austin Gomber, Dakota Hudson and Daniel Poncedeleon, and other arms have been moved from the rotation, with Carlos Martinez and Luke Weaver. Greg Holland and Tommy Pham were released to free up space for some of the younger players to get in on the action. Without Tommy Pham, center field is freed up for Harrison Bader, who is constantly making 5 star plays and showing off his speed. The release of Greg Holland was more of, in my opinion, cutting off some dead weight.
So what the key change here? Was it firing Matheny or players getting hot? Could it simply be the salsa that Matt Carpenter has been cooking up these days? The Cardinals are certainly doing well in this second half and seem to be gearing up for possible postseason run. St. Louis is a city that expects a postseason run every year, let us hope that they don’t disappoint.
