2019 St. Louis Cardinals

2019 St. Louis Cardinals / Franchise: St. Louis Cardinals / BR Team Page

Record: 91-71, Finished 1st in NL Central Division (2019 NL)

Clinched Division: September 29, 2019, vs. Chicago Cubs

Managed by Mike Shildt

Coaches: Jeff Albert, Mark Budaska, Stubby Clapp, Bryan Eversgerd, Mike Maddux, Oliver Marmol, Willie McGee and Ron Warner

Ballpark: Busch Stadium III

History, Comments, Contributions

The 2019 St. Louis Cardinals were convinced they would be back in contention after missing the postseason for an uncharacteristic three consecutive seasons, especially after their off-season acquisition of 1B Paul Goldschmidt in a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks. They quickly signed him to a contract extension and were expecting that he would be the focus of their offense. It worked well enough in the first few weeks, as they went 18-7 in April after a 1-3 start in March, but the next two months were painful: 9-18 in May, and a disappointing 13-13 in June, as it seems their hitters were unable to buy a clutch hit when needed. By then, their three-game lead atop the NL Central on May 1st had melted away, and they fell back by as many as 5 games during May. They were stuck in third place from the end of May to the All-Star break, continually hovering between 1 1/2 and 4 games back.

The Cardinals were 44-44 at the break, but began to play much better after that, finishing July a full 7 games above .500 and tied for first place. They followed that with an outstanding month in August, when they went 18-9, and by sweeping a doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds on August 31st, entered September with a 2 1/3 game lead in first place. The doubleheader sweep at home was the Cards' first since 1992, when they had turned the trick against the Chicago Cubs! While the Milwaukee Brewers had a very strong September and were able to close the gap to a half-game at one point, the Cardinals managed to hold on to first place, finishing two games ahead of them at 91-71 for their first division title since 2015. They went on to face the Atlanta Braves in the Division Series.

Awards and Honors

• All-Star: Paul DeJong
• NL Gold Glove: Kolten Wong (2B)
• NL Manager of the Year Award: Mike Shildt

Further Reading

• Associate Press: "Goldschmidt, Miller give Cardinals hope heading into 2019", USA Today, March 19, 2019. [1]
• Washington Post: "Cardinals clinch the NL Central title, 9-0 vs. Cubs", historic-newspapers.com, September 30, 2019

2019 MLB season by team