Carlos Martínez and Yadier Molina knew Marcell Ozuna would be a Cardinal someday - A Hunt and Peck

Fate put them all on the same team.

By lil_scooter93 Dec 21, 2017, 1:00pm EST

MLB: St. Louis Cardinals at Miami Marlins

It was earlier in December when it was announced the Cardinals had acquired Marcell Ozuna from the Marlins via trade. The Cardinals had found their power bat - someone to make an immediate impact for the team. And maybe, along with Carlos Martínez, he would be one of the faces of the franchise in the years to come, following in the footsteps left by those before him, such as Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright.

Carlos and Marcell crossed paths many times - sharing a training complex during Spring Training, at the All Star Game, and even at charity events. It was seemingly meant to be that Carlos and Marcell would become friends... and Ozuna eventually a Cardinal. It was something Carlos and Yadi had even joked with Ozuna about at the 2017 All Star Game, per Ben Hochman of the St. Louis Post Dispatch:

“Carlos and Yadi had joked around with me — ‘We’re going to bring you to the Cardinals!’” Ozuna recalled. “They’d joke around back and forth. So the nervousness went away when I thought of those little exchanges with Carlos and Yadi. If I’m being traded, at least I’m being traded to guys that I know. The anxiety and nervousness went away.”

Everything always seems to work out in the end. It is funny how that happens.

Hochman: Ozuna and Martinez should make quite a pair | Benjamin Hochman | stltoday.com