In seeing that we started the month of May with a series against the Nationals, I wondered how our May looked.  In doing so, I figured maybe I’d do a fanpost to preview the month, so here goes:

 

The month of May looks favorable for the Cardinals with most of their road games being against teams that are not expected to be in contention for a playoff spot and about with home games against only a couple teams that should, at least on paper, outmatch the Cardinals.

 

The month begins with the last 3 games of a 4 game set with Washington.  These games are on the road, but Washington, at least so far, has been a pretty hapless team, at 5-15.  Amazingly, their offense is middle of the road in OPS, as they’re 11th in the majors, but their pitching puts them in at 23rd, with a 5.11 ERA so far.  Nevertheless, this is a road series, and since their abysmal 0-7 start, they haven’t been as bad, and have posted a 3-5 record so far at home.

 

We then have short 2 game series against the Phillies and Pirates at home, followed by 3 gamers against the Reds and Pirates again.  The Pirates have played us tough so far (2-2) and actually are 11-10, shockingly enough, so they’re not a pushover and the Cardinals should be ecstatic winning more than 3 of those 5 games against the Pirates.  The way the Pirates have been 11-10 so far is even more shocking, as they are currently the best team in baseball in team ERA, at 3.41.

 

After that, the Redbirds return home for a nine-game homestand against the Crew, Cubbies, and cross-state rivals, the Royals.  If I’d have asked you a month ago which order those teams would be in Team ERA, you’d probably have answered in backwards order, as KC so far (in large part due to Greinke) is 3rd in baseball in ERA, behind only Pittsburgh and Seattle (crazy, isn’t it?), with Milwaukee being next and Chicago, 19th in the majors, is last of those three.  Despite this, the obvious series of importance here is the Cubs series.  Despite a .500 start, the Cubs remain the team to beat in this division until the Cardinals either put more distance between themselves and the Cubs or at least hold this lead for another month or so, proving they’re for real this year.  It is a home series, and so far each series has finished 2-1 in favor of the home team.  It’s very important that the Cardinals keep that trend going (or more favorably, sweep the Cubs), both to keep the Cubs further down in the standing, but also for their collective psyche, after not doing terribly well against the Cubbies so far in new Busch.

 

With that, the Cardinals finish the month on the road for 6 games, playing the Brewers and then the revitalized Giants.  Despite being “revitalized,” though, the Giants are still only a .500 team, but this is a huge improvement over the last few seasons.

 

So overall, for the month, things do look positive for St. Louis over the next month.

 

Overview:

Total Games: 28 (3 off days)

Road/Home: 15/13

Games against NL Central:  17 (Milwaukee – 6, Pittsburgh – 5, Cincinnati – 3, Chicago Cubs – 3)

Records against teams they’ve played so far:  Pirates 2-2, Cubs 3-3.

Games against projected playoff teams: 5 (Chicago Cubs – 3, Philadelphia – 2)

Games against playoff teams if the playoffs started today: 5 (Kansas City – 3, Philadelphia – 2)