In the event of Rapture all other teams will be Left Behind: the 2015 St. Louis Cardinals

i hope this season is a classic. getting such good vibes (not just from the run in the first inning either, i promise)

all the nl central games feel important this year

def because 3 of its teams have the potential to be great and the brewers could be goodish sustainably and...there are also the reds, they do stuff...

will lester attempt to throw to 1B?

seriously weird he never threw to 1B in all of 2014, i mean how in the

would've really loved if he had and gotten kolten wong, would remind me of a certain other time kolten wong got thrown out at first

but alas

*koltentears*

wainwright has no right to complain about the strike zone at this point

but seriously, it is def just not a thing he does since 2011, seems like he would rather work himself out of jams

which did not really always work! but last year it was kind of a nonissue - until the wild card game.

two runs matted in already

ouch, jon lester coming up in the 8th position in the order, TLR style, with 2 outs and a runner on 3B.

joe maddon...is a genius

cool strike zone tonight

it's...not consistent to say the least

that Heyward trade is already looking good, unsurprisingly

Cubs already giving us gifs, how nice of them

yikes, cubs kind of looking bad news bears out there right now!

yadi has a tiny guy butt now

Phil Coke is on the Cubs now?

I think Schilling just had a stroke trying to explain what's wrong with Martinez's mechanics.

yeah, i watched that with the sound at a very low volume and it sounded insane

i love watching martinez pitch. even when it's nerveracking. his pitches have such movement, you can't look away

At least this is probably the last time I'll listen to the ESPN game crew this season.

yikes, Soler having a rough time tonight.

uh, i though Martinez was going to be starting?!

he is, but he's 5th in the rotation and the cardinals have 3 off-days in the first two weeks of the season, so he probably won't see a start for a while.

ah.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdSoFvmoaWI

http://giant.gfycat.com/SpottedWholeJunco.gif

el gallo's change is looking gooooooood, and should be a weapon against lefthanders this year.

http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2015/4/8/8351355/carlos-martinez-changeup-st-louis-cardinals-baseball-mlb

that ball almost got raptured

heard that huge douchebag Curt Schilling was ripping on him during the opening night broadcast which makes me like Carlos more and more.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCblC-4UIAAMfi0.jpg:large

yikes

that's bad

fuck

especially because the cubs are going to be dominating from 2016-?? and the pirates won't be far behind

I do think it is a cool retro design, but it is a total F.U. (aka the Cardinal Way).

Hey it's not bragging if you can back it up, I'm sure Cardinal fans will eat it up.

Wait that's real?

it is. http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/25147303/check-out-the-cardinals-sure-to-be-polarizing-scorecard

I can't even hate. It's beautiful in a way. And it captures the Cardinal sense of superiority in such an exaggerated fashion that in some ways I think the bird is the ugliest stereotype there.

heh, i lamented the scorecard's existence on the cardinals site on suggest ban nation and, shockingly, dozens of people think i'm a thin-skinned idiot. i did learn that the same artist has designed a few of the cards' scorecards though:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-qRhjywH_6Vg/S_nIU06j29I/AAAAAAAAANU/bYjPuL6OsSY/s400/2010ScorecardSm.png

(that's supposed to be an astro, in case you're wondering)

so much worse than all that...
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--groksbeG--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/1208468283319624008.jpg

wrt to the calendars, i'm glad the cards aren't in the same division as the indians.

Stan McNeal of Cardinals Gameday Magazine tweeted that the Cardinals placed Grichuk on the 15-day disabled list after Saturday's game due to a back injury he reportedly suffered in the weight room on Friday and promoted infielder Dean Anna to take his place on the bench.

i'm glad the cards aren't in the same division as the indians."

I kinda wish the 'central' did include the White Sox, Indians and Tigers.

You mean consolidating the national and American leagues while keeping their three divisions? That would be really interesting!

Yeah...I think the whole AL/NL thing is done anyway. Put the Mets, Phillies in the East with the Yanks, O's etc. That's what TV wants is NY vs. NY and LA vs. LA, make it real.

Make baseball more of a regional sport thing where you don't play every team every year, you play out of your division on a 'strength of schedule' based on prior year performance.

I love the NL/AL thing, honestly. One of the things that attracted to baseball in the first place. But I see how this would be the logical business thing to do.

akin to mlb's continuing inability to solve things like the a's stadium or the nats/o's television thing, i think there are too many interests to be placated for such a change

would travel savings make up for losing lucrative homestands with the yankees/sox? etc

man, carpenter is on fire so far this year. holliday, too. if they could just get all three Matts going at the same time, it would really make my day.

http://i.imgur.com/aODbWkO.gif