St. Louis Cardinals: Top moments in the pandemic-shortened 2020 regular season
ST. LOUIS (KY3) - For the seventh time in the past decade, the St. Louis Cardinals prepare for postseason baseball.
The Cardinals clinched a postseason berth Sunday with a 5-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers, finishing the pandemic-shortened regular season with a record of 30-28.
With Sunday’s victory, the Cardinals avoid traveling Monday to Detroit for two makeup games that had been postponed amid the team’s COVID-19 outbreak from late-July to mid-August.
Postseason begins Wednesday against the San Diego Padres. The Cardinals will play a best-of-three series in San Diego after clinching the National League’s fifth seed in an expanded playoff format.
It was quite an unusual ride to make it into postseason. The Cardinals announced multiple positive COVID-19 tests within the organization on July 31, one week into the abbreviated season, then went 16 days without playing a regular season game.
The grand outcome: St. Louis plays 53 games in 43 days to catch up in the schedule, including 20 in the form of doubleheaders, with only three days off in that stretch. Quite the sprint to salvage the season after the COVID-19 outbreak cast uncertainty on whether the Cardinals would defend last year’s NL Central crown, let alone finish the season.
Red October may feel a little more gratifying in a season with no shortage of adjustments. Teams started extra-innings with a runner on second base. Doubleheaders only consisted of seven innings from the traditional nine. Clubs adjusted taxi squad, rather than a minor league affiliate, to bring up and send down players. And perhaps, most unusually, teams played the entire season without fans allowed in ballparks.
With a regular season unlike any other in the books and postseason on the horizon, here’s a look back at ten feats, milestones and moments that pushed the Cardinals to postseason in the pandemic-shortened campaign.
St. Louis Cardinals: Top 2020 Regular Season Moments (In Photos)
10. Great Goldy!
In his second season with the Cardinals, Paul Goldchmidt started playing at a level similar to his MVP-hopeful days with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Goldschmidt led the Cardinals in WAR (1.7) and contended with league leaders for on-base percentage deep into September. In addition to Gold Glove caliber defense, Goldschmidt was the only Cardinal to hit above .300 and finish the 2020 campaign with perfect attendance.
9. Kim leads the rookies
Fifteen players made their Major League debuts for the Cardinals in 2020, but none were more effective or durable than Kwang-hyun Kim. The southpaw started seven games for St. Louis post-outbreak, producing a miniscule 0.33 ERA in his first five starts. Kim the save in the home opener, then hurled at least five innings in all but one outing once converted to a starter.
8. Wong walkoffs
The Cardinals mustered two walkoff wins in 2020, both delivered by Kolten Wong in the same homestand. The first was a game-ending single to open up a four-game series against the Cincinnati Reds on August 20. Six days later, Wong completed a comeback victory with a walkoff, bases loaded walk against the Kansas City Royals. The second baseman flew under the radar again and produced the second-best WAR (1.2) among Cardinals position players.
7. Miller breaks out for 7 RBI game
MLB journeyman Brad Miller produced some key hits in his first Cardinals campaign, chasing team history with one particular big-time performance to open September. Miller homered twice in a four-hit, seven-RBI night, a feat only accomplished six times in Cardinals history, to lead a 16-2 rout over the Cincinnati Reds. Despite an up-and-down season for the veteran, he had a respectable .357 on-base percentage and proved versatile defensively in the Cardinals infield.
6. Cardinals split 10 games at Wrigley
Crunching games into a condensed schedule came with some sacrifices, one being that the Cardinals would play every head-to-head game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field for the first time in franchise history. Given the circumstances, things could have ended up worse. St. Louis split ten games between two restructured series in mid-August and over Memorial Day weekend, winning four contests in doubleheaders and outscoring Chicago 39-34 in the season series.
5. Carlson’s Call!
One of the highest-touted Cardinals prospects in years, Dylan Carlson showed flashes a five-tool skillset in his rookie season. The 21-year-old outfielder played in both ends of a doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox on his debut day, but optioned to the Cardinals taxi squad after some early-career struggles.
Carlson found quite the groove upon return, hitting .285 in his final dozen games and nearly completing a cycle in late-September. Carlson finished his rookie campaign with three home runs, 11 runs scored and 16 RBI, while his four outfield assists were tied for second-best in the National League.
4. Cardinals sweep doubleheader in return from outbreak
The Cardinals began their post-outbreak schedule with a twin bill against the Chicago White Sox on August 15. In addition to missing two weeks worth of games, the Cardinals were short several key players who tested positive, like Yadier Molina and Paul DeJong.
St. Louis set the tone immediately, scoring four runs in the first inning off White Sox ace Lucas Giolito and batting through the order. Adam Wainwright tossed five strong innings in the opener, backed by six bullpen arms over both ends that contained the White Sox powerful offense. Paul Goldschmidt, Tyler O’Neill and Dexter Fowler all drove in multiple runs between both games, 5-1 and 6-3 road victories for the Cardinals.
3. Yadi reaches 2,000 career hits
After missing several games recovering from a COVID-19 diagnosis, Yadier Molina found himself chasing a career milestone in crunched time. The two-time World Series champion needed only 37 hits to reach 2,000 in his career, a feat accomplished by six hitters while playing for the St. Louis Cardinals and only 12 catchers all-time.
Molina helped his own cause with a four-hit day on August 23 in one of his first games upon return and six multi-hit efforts in September. He needed all the way until the Cardinals' final home series to reach the milestone, but made it happen September 24 with a line-drive single to right centerfield. The 38-year-old proved to be a workhorse once again, starting 42 contests and also playing in his 2,000th career game.
2. Wainwright turns back the clock
It’s hard to imagine the Cardinals making postseason without Adam Wainwright in 2020. He and Jack Flaherty were the only two St. Louis starters who didn’t miss a turn in the rotation due to injury. When the Cardinals needed Wainwright to play stopper or save the bullpen from a heavy workload, he answered and oftentimes pushed for more. All while still delivering dazzling curveballs.
Wainwright finished the 2020 campaign with a 3.15 ERA and 1.05 WHIP, both personal-bests since 2014. He also hurled a pair of complete games and tossed at least five innings in every outing. The crafty veteran’s best game, and arguably the top individual moment of the Cardinals' 2020 season, came on his 38th birthday. Wainwright went the distance on August 30 to help St. Louis avoid a sweep from the Cleveland Indians, throwing a season-high 122 pitches over nine innings against the interleague foe.
1. The clincher
Heading into the final day of regular season, the St. Louis Cardinals and three other teams, including the opposing Milwaukee Brewers, battled for a chance to clinch the final two postseason spots. Sunday set the stage for a win-and-in situation at Busch Stadium, though the Cardinals and Brewers would both eventually make the dance through different clinching scenarios.
Austin Gomber started the home finale, holding the Brewers to one run over four innings. He was backed by a four-run third inning, which included key hits from Harrison Bader, Kolten Wong, Paul Goldschmidt and Paul DeJong. Bader would add a towering home run to Big Mac Land in the following inning to improve the Cardinals clinching chances. Giovanny Gallegos, Génesis Cabrera and Alex Reyes covered the final five innings in relief. Reyes secured the final out, officially clinching a postseason berth for the St. Louis Cardinals after 53 games in 43 days.
Enjoy postseason baseball!
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