Independence Day Weekend Open Thread

I’m on a beach right now. A beach in Mexico, to be exact. I wrote this Wednesday night — as you read this, I’m 100% not paying any attention to baseball. It’s just as well, because honestly, the game I just finished watching involved the Cardinals making Mike Leake look like a still-effective pitcher, and that was not fun to watch. The Cardinals came through in the end, because wow are the Mariners bad, but still, I’m ready to be away from baseball for a few days. This isn’t an article, just an open thread so that there’s a VEB Daily, because I’m a hopeless optimist and want to believe that holiday weekend Cardinals discussions still happen.

Will this be the Cardinals’ year? Honestly, if I had to guess, I’d lean heavily no right now. They just look sluggish, in a way that’s hard for me to define. We can figure that all out after the All-Star break, though. For now, the Cardinals are, bizarrely enough, in the playoff hunt. I’m going snorkeling. Happy Fourth!