The eerie similaries between this season and last after the Cardinals’ first 22 games
It would be less of a social faux pas in the St. Louis Cardinals clubhouse these days to waltz into the players-only kitchen and fix a sandwich than it is to offer reminders of the dismal 2023 season.
“Spring training was the last chance to write about last year,” Lance Lynn said following his start in the home opener. That point has been echoed, emphasized, reinforced through rolled eyes and exaggerated sighs in many if not most conversations when the topic comes up, and the Cardinals can hardly be faulted for not wanting to be asked to re-live the team’s worst season in three and a half decades.
Unfortunately for them, their choices as the Arizona Diamondbacks arrive at Busch Stadium on Monday are to play better or get over their objections, because their record through 22 games is identical to the same spot a year ago: 9-13.
They’ve arrived at that point down a distinct but rhyming path from last year’s journey. Last year’s team couldn’t get anyone out, and this year’s to date can’t bring anyone in. St. Louis is last in the National League in batting average, runs and home runs, and they’re second from the bottom in hits, on base percentage, and slugging percentage.
“You kind of get after some guys if there’s a lack of preparation, attention to detail, focus, hunger, make a list of things you would want to see out of guys when those are missing,” manager Oli Marmol said. “Then there’s a problem, and you address it. But if I’m being quite honest, that’s not the case. They’re just struggling at the moment and trying to find a way out of it.
“We’ve got to be patient through that. [It] sucks. Nothing about it do we like or they like.”
The praise for preparation has been consistent and hard to deny.
Paul Goldschmidt, mired in a career-worst stretch without an extra base hit, took batting practice on the field multiple times over the weekend, a change from his typical routine. There’s no note of defeat in any voices, no quiet complaints about teammates, barely any explosive frustration, give or take one bat shattered on the dirt by Willson Contreras.
Still, it’s hard not to see some eerie similarities. The 2023 Cardinals traveled to San Francisco from Seattle ahead of their 23rd game and took just one of four in that set. They were then swept in Los Angeles by the Dodgers and at home by the Angels before losing the first two of a series against the Tigers, at which point they fell to 14 games below .500 and the season was, for all intents and purposes, over and done on May 6.
That week saw the Cardinals send Jordan Walker back to the minors and add a third catcher to the roster as they dealt with the Contreras-adjacent tantrum thrown by some members of the pitching staff. It also saw them drop to 0-10 in series-opening games from the start of the season.
This weekend, the Cardinals sent Victor Scott II to the minors and added a third catcher to the roster, and two series from now, they head to Detroit to play the Tigers. Entering this home series with the Diamondbacks, they are 0-7 in series-closing games. Extremely different circumstances, and yet similar enough to hear the harmonies.
“We’re here battling our [rears] off, doing our best, working our [rears] off and studying the game,” Contreras said Sunday when asked about the prospect of the offense turning things around. “Hopefully it happens soon, so you can come up to me and ask me the same question.”
“I don’t think we would want it to be exactly the same as last year,” Lars Nootbaar said when asked how the two seasons are different. “I really do think having [Matt Carpenter] offensively in the dugout with us helps us out. He’s experienced so much in this ballpark that’s been a success, and he’s somebody that right now isn’t in a lineup, so you can kind of go to him and ask him questions and kind of feed off him.
“Whenever we decide to try to turn it on and start scoring some runs,” he added, “it’s going to be a really dangerous ball club, but it stinks being in that position and feeling like we’re the ones kind of letting it down.”
From a management perspective, perhaps the biggest difference between guiding a team that’s struggling to pitch and guiding a team that’s struggling to hit is that there are more direct, proactive steps to take regarding pitching. A rotation can be shuffled, roles can be changed, players can be promoted or demoted.
When hitters, especially core hitters like Goldschmidt, struggle to produce, there’s only so much shuffling to be done. For the first time since being traded to St. Louis ahead of the 2019 season, Goldschmidt hit as low as fifth in the batting order on Sunday. And so, of course, he found himself at the plate with the bases loaded in the first inning.
He popped out to right field, too shallow to score a run. Alec Burleson followed with an inning ending ground out, and the Cardinals would have only two more runners reach third base throughout the remainder of a 2-0 loss. The game will find struggles and it can rarely be cheated.
“I think it’s different because first of all, we have good chemistry,” Contreras said when asked about the parallels between the seasons. “I think the chemistry and relationship that we have right now this year, last year wasn’t there.
“I think when [the offense] comes around, it’s gonna be a good team,” he added. “I mean, it’s a good team already, but we just haven’t found that flow of the game or played loose. I think that’s a good way to put it. I know it’s getting old from last year. I think maybe some players are carrying that still from last year, but I’m just trying to be there for my teammates, just get on base and make something happen.”
Whether they want to admit it or not, one lesson that lingers is that things need to happen more quickly than it may seem.
