Health is Offseason Key for St. Louis in Loaded Division

Adam Wainwright

The trend continued of the best team in baseball not winning a playoff series as the St. Louis Cardinals fell to the Chicago Cubs Tuesday at Wrigley Field. For the third-straight season, the best regular-season team did not win a playoff series. For the Cardinals, they met their match in a young and talented Cubs team, but as the offseason begins, health has to be the primary concern in St. Louis.

The Cardinals won their third-straight National League Central Division title this season, but bowed out in the NLDS to Chicago in four games. Much has been made of the Central Division's success as the top three teams in the MLB came from the division. Moving forward, Pittsburgh, Chicago and St. Louis are here to stay, but if the Cardinals are to continue their reign then getting everyone healthy has to be the primary focus for the offseason.

The Cardinals rarely put their full lineup on the field in 2015, yet managed to win 100 games. St. Louis routinely had multiple starters on the injury list. Here are some to note:

• Matt Holliday: missed 89 games
• Matt Adams: missed 102 games
• Randal Grichuk: missed 59 games
• Adam Wainwright: made four starts

In addition, Yadier Molina missed the final game of the NLDS due to injury and went through surgery on his thumb today while Carlos Martinez missed the postseason due to injury as well. 

St. Louis received stellar play from Stephen Piscotty in the NLDS and Jason Heyward hit .293 for the season. Matt Carpenter and Kolten Wong are both reliable as is Jhonny Peralta. But the reality is this: the Cubs and Pirates are good. Very good. In 2016, the Cardinals will finish third in the division if they are unable to stay healthy.

There is no need for panic in St. Louis after the NLDS lost to the Cubs. Sure, it stings, but these Cubs aren't your father's Cubs...or your grandfather's Cubs. These Cubs are for real and so is Pittsburgh. But the Cardinals will be fine if they can get healthy and continue to develop their young arms.

Stabilizing the rotation is a must. St. Louis needs Michael Wacha and Martinez to continue to improve and, perhaps, Marco Gonzales will need to be prepared to fit into the rotation. There is a real possibility that John Lackey retires or leaves in free agency, which leaves a hole in the rotation.

In addition, Heyward may be on the way out as well. He's consistent and he's young, which means he will command well over $100 million in free agency this offseason. The Cardinals must decide if they will try and keep him. Since 2012, he ranks third in WAR among outfielders, which puts him behind only Mike Trout and Andrew McCutchen. 

St. Louis is an elite team, but in a strengthened division, the heat is on this offseason to keep pace with Pittsburgh and Chicago. The roster must get healthy and moves must be made in the offseason. If not, the Cardinals may find themselves looking up in the standings to two rivals.

Dissecting the National League Playoff Bracket

Four teams with one dream and four teams with four different stories. That's what fans are looking at in the National League playoff bracket today as the postseason really gets underway. The Wild Card games are in the books and the final four NL teams are set. St. Louis and Pittsburgh will meet in a divisional showdown while Atlanta and Los Angeles will square off in a highly-anticipated series filled with young stars.

You want history? You got it. The four National League teams left have all been in existence since the 1880s. There is a combined 25 World Series victories among the four and plenty of Hall of Fame legends. More recently, the NL has belonged to the Braves and the Cardinals. St. Louis won a dramatic World Series in 2011 and also was victorious in 2006. Atlanta dominated the 90s and has remained the beast of the NL East with a fresh crop of talent.

Los Angeles enters the playoffs as the hottest team over the second half. At the beginning of the season, fans and analysts were discussing Don Mattingly's job, but LA turned it around and finished with 92 wins and ran away with the West Division. Yasiel Puig took the nation by storm with his you-gotta-see-this theatrics on the field and on the base paths, but it was Hanley Ramirez who really acted as the catalyst for LA's run.

LA's matchup with Atlanta is intriguing for multiple reasons. While the Dodgers were the focal point of the second half, Atlanta flew under the radar for much of the season. If it's possible, the Braves somehow won 96 games quietly. To make it even more impressive, Atlanta got nothing out of B.J. Upton and Dan Uggla during the regular season. Uggla batted .179 and was left off the playoff roster.

Still, the Braves lineup is potent with Justin Upton, Jason Heyward, Freddie Freeman and Chris Johnson. However, they are going to be facing a pitching staff headlined by Clayton Kershaw. Runs won't come easy for the Braves in this series. Kershaw finished the season with a miniscule 1.83 ERA and is one of the most decorated pitchers in the game today.

In the other series, the Cardinals and Pirates face off in a familiar matchup. The two teams played 19 times with Pittsburgh winning 10 games. While the matchup is familiar, the setting is not for one team. Pittsburgh hasn't been in the playoffs since 1992 when the lost in the NLCS. Still, there are players on the roster that do have playoff experience. A.J. Burnett and Justin Morneau are no strangers to postseason baseball, but for a star like Andrew McCutchen this is all new.

St. Louis finished with the best record in baseball behind little-known stars such as Matt Carpenter and Allen Craig and a pitching staff led by Adam Wainwright. The Cardinals are better than any team in baseball with runners in scoring position and that will come in handy during the playoffs when every run matters.

So who moves on? Count on the Cardinals to defeat the Pirates due to their experience and timely hitting. It's a toss up in the Braves-Dodgers series, but I'll take LA.

Legends are made in October and the team that gets that timely hit, run-saving catch or shutdown pitching performance is the team that wins. Let the games begin...

NL Central Race Could End With Three Playoff Teams

The calendar is about to flip to September and the dog days of August are coming to a close. August is the month that separates the contenders (see Kansas City) from the pretenders (see Philadelphia), but in the National League Central Division there is not separation. Three contenders remain in a deadlock atop the division standings with Pittsburgh and St. Louis tied for first and Cincinnati just 2.5 back.

The final sprint to the finish will be incredible to watch and it's likely that there could be three teams make the playoffs. All three teams have the ingredients for postseason success with quality rotations and deep lineups. Here's the forecast for the Pirates, Cardinals and Reds as we head to the final month of the regular season.

Pittsburgh Pirates (76-54) -- On this blog just last month I said time will tell if this band of Pirates was legit. Time has told us yes they are. Whereas the last few years the Pirates had crumbled in the second half of the season, this year they have continued to play good ball while persevering through some injuries. Six games each against the Cards and Reds remain on the schedule. Closer Jason Grilli remains on the 15-day DL, but GM Neal Huntington said a big step would be a simulation game this week. For the Pirates, the final stretch will be a new challenge to conquer. The playoffs haven't been in Pittsburgh since Barry Bonds, but making the postseason would be the next step for this team. There are growing pains that come with learning to win and that's why winning the division might be a year away for this team, but they are a force to be reckoned with if they sew up one of those Wild Card spots.

St. Louis Cardinals (76-54) -- The Cardinals are in a completely different spot than the Pittsburgh Pirates despite their records saying the same thing. St. Louis is a veteran team with a nice mix of young talent. The core of the team has won one or two World Series and has been a part of two fantastic playoff series the last two years. St. Louis weathered the storm during the first half of the month, but they are in the midst of another difficult part on the schedule. They recently took three of four from Atlanta, but their next 12 are against the Reds and Pirates. The schedule after that is favorable and if they stay healthy then they should be the division winner. The offense has been outstanding from the start and with the way St. Louis drives in runs they will be hard to beat in the playoffs. Add in their experience and this team should be playing for the NL championship.

Cincinnati Reds (74-57) -- Cincinnati has been an underachiever as far as the postseason goes the past few years and, for a time, it looked like this year's playoffs wouldn't be happening in the Queens City. However, the Reds had a good month and are now very much in playoff contention. The offense is there for Cincinnati. They are 13th in runs scored and they seventh in on-base percentage. There are a few questions in the starting rotation and the main one is how good will Homer Bailey be? We've seen him throw two no-hitters, but he has also had his low moments. A good Homer Bailey would be huge for the Reds and if they team has the lead late in the game then you can forget about it because that means it's Aroldis Chapman time. A Wild Card spot is there for the taking and the series against the Cardinals starting tonight is the biggest of the season for this team.

All three teams have proven they are playoff teams and they do so by being good at the plate and out on the field. St. Louis has the playoff experience and the best offense, but the Pirates are a team on a mission. Cincinnati isn't far behind and has nightmares of last year's playoff collapse to the Giants. Count on all three to make the playoffs if they don't beat up on each other over the next month.

Time Will Tell if This Band of Pirates is Legit

You may do a double take, but you aren't seeing things when looking at the MLB standings. At the All-Star Break the Pittsburgh Pirates really are the second best team in baseball with a 56-37 record and one game behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central. The franchise that has perfected the art of losing hasn't had a winning season since 1992, so if you were born since 1990 then you have no memory of Pittsburgh ever being a winner. That's futility at it's finest right there.

However, the winds of change are sweeping through the Steel City. The Bucs have flirted with success the past two seasons, only to bottom out in the second half and finish under .500 once again. Last season they were close, but 79-83 still won't get the job done and the playoffs continued to evade the franchise. But this year -- no, not this year. This year there is something different about the Pirates and saying "playoffs" and "Pirates" in the same sentence is no longer a funny joke.

It all starts with Andrew McCutchen for Pittsburgh. The 26-year-old All-Star got off to a slow start this season, but has recovered to hit .302 with 10 home runs, 49 RBIs and 20 stolen bases. A team needs a star if they are to win and Pittsburgh has one in McCutchen. The centerfielder obviously believes in the franchise and the direction they are headed in because he inked a six-year extension worth $51.5 million in 2012. In past years he was the lone bright spot, but not this season.

Starling Marte has emerged as a reliable every day player with a batting average of .291, 28 RBIs and 28 stolen bases. At only 24 years of age, Marte is a player that figures to factor into the Pirates plans for years down the road and both he and McCutchen should man their outfield spots through at least 2018 when McCutchen's deal ends. Then there is Pedro Alvarez, another All-Star, who provides the pop in the lineup with 28 home runs. Like Marte and McCutchen, Alvarez is young at just 26 years and the Bucs finally have a solid young core they can find hope in.

Yet none of this is possible, and the playoffs certainly aren't a possibility, if not for the pitching depth that Pittsburgh has. Pitching wins when it comes to the playoffs and the Pirates have the starters (Francisco Liriano, A.J. Burnett, Jeff Locke) and the bullpen (Jason Grilli, Justin Wilson, Mark Melancon) to make a run. That's what has prohibited the Pirates from staying afloat in the second half the past two seasons, but again, it seems this club is different.

Obviously no one really knows if the Pirates will be in the playoffs come October, but time will tell if the losing will finally come to an end. A team must learn how to win before they can actually do it and Pittsburgh has been going through the process the last two seasons. Now, with a 20-game cushion from that dreaded sub-.500 and just 69 games remaining maybe Bucs fans can finally try and figure out where they are. After all, 19 games over .500 this late in the season certainly is uncharted territory.