St. Louis Cardinals: Lessons Learned in World Series Game 1

The St. Louis Cardinals would love to still be playing but are instead watching the World Series from home. That doesn’t mean that the organization can’t learn a thing or two from what happens in this season’s big series.

Tuesday night’s victory was awarded to the stellar play of the Cleveland Indians. The St. Louis Cardinals were simply not able to manufacture in 2016 in the way we watched the Indians dominate last night. There are lessons to be learned here.

The Chicago Cubs, with all of their pomp and circumstance, were more like the 2016 St. Louis Cardinals than were they the 2016 Cubs last night. These baby birds were unable to get their offense rolling against the Cy Young master, Corey Kluber.

There were flashes from the Cubs when they would get runners on or even load the bases but just as was experienced by the St. Louis Cardinals this season, those runner simply were left on the pond. Frustrating right, Cubbies? Let’s dig a little more into game one to see what lessons the Cardinals can glean and look to implement in 2017.

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Right out of the gate the Indians applied pressure. After Kluber set down the side in the top of the first, the Indians jumped on Jon Lester and started running the minute they got Francisco Lindor on base and stole second. Pressure. This steal seemed to rattle the great Lester and he walked the next two batters. This setup a single for an RBI and then a hit-by-pitch for an RBI. Indians up 2-0.

The St. Louis Cardinals need to see the value here immediately of the running game. In 2016, the Cardinals were lame in relation to stolen bases and this is certainly something that is needed in 2017. In just this first inning, Cleveland provided the evidence of this value and I hope the Cardinals take note.

To the Cubs credit, Ben Zobrist was a spur in Kluber’s saddle with his production at the plate. Zobrist, through his patience, managed to work the counts and make Kluber pitch to him. This paid off with him going 3-for-4 on the night. I hope the Cardinals see the value of a scrappy player like Zobrist in their thinking this off-season.

Bravo to Cubs retiring catcher, David Ross, for recording a caught stealing in the bottom of the third. The value of a great catcher is not lost on the St. Louis Cardinals with our own existence of our great Yadier Molina. The real question for the Cardinals is who will serve as Yadi’s backup. To this point, the Cardinals should learn from the Cubs in that they have three very viable catchers on the squad.

Moving on… How about them home runs?! The 2016 St. Louis Cardinals were very reliant on the home run and last night’s game provided this excitement too. That said, last night’s home runs accounted for three of the six runs. What is to be learned here? Should the 2017 Cardinals rely on the long ball again, the best benefit comes when runners are on base as was the case in the eighth inning last night.

And how about that pitching? Kluber was every bit a Cy Young pitcher last night. Lester looked more like a St. Louis Cardinals pitcher from 2016 than his standard set in this postseason. The Cardinals need to recognize too the value of a powerful pen as was on display by the Indians.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have an Andrew Miller-like arm in the Cardinals pen? Do the Cardinals have an arm like this? Could Trevor Rosenthal become this arm? Maybe the 2017 St. Louis Cardinals should use Jaime Garcia in this role… Just some thoughts.

Did you love game one? As a devout Cardinals fan, I was thrilled with the Indians win. I would love to see another tonight. In addition, I’m pumped to see if the Indians apply pressure to Jake Arrieta tonight by stealing on him too. Arrieta surrendered twenty-three steals in twenty-six attempts in 2016 so look for this pressure again tonight and let the Cardinals learn as well.

Game two is tonight at 6pm CST on FOX. I will be watching. Will you? I hope the Indians are able to take a 2-0 lead into Wrigley this weekend. Tonight could be a strong game on both sides so look for some wonder baseball!