The Cardinals are good?

Over the last two weeks, the St. Louis Cardinals have done something that they had not been able to do consistently in nearly three years; win. For the first several months, the 2018 season seemed like it would just be another saga in the ruining of the Cardinals. Their manager was still bad, their bullpen still could not pitch, and they still did not have a legitimate star anywhere on the roster that could carry them on any given day.

Then, out of nowhere, everything changed. First, right before the All-Star break, they fired longtime manager Mike Matheny, which was long overdue. His replacement, Mike Schildt, was so competent that the organization believed they had a chance, and subsequently brought up all of their AAA pitchers to help anchor the pen and make spot starts when necessary. This filled up two of the clubs greatest weaknesses. They now have a bullpen that can keep leads along with a manager competent enough to actually use them.

That still left one whole, however. Midway through the season, the Cardinals still did not have a legitimate star. And after the team went quiet during the trade deadline, acquiring nothing but another usable mid-reliever, it seemed that was something that was going to continue into the off-season. Then, out of nowhere, Matt Carpenter decided that sounded like too long a wait. He then went on a salsa infused hot streak that jolted him into the league lead in homers, on-base percentage, and OPS. He simply hit out of his mind, as he frequently drove in enough runs in a given game that the rest of the offense didn't need to show up.

All this put together apparently adds to a fairly good team, as the Cards have won six straight series and are currently in a 9 for 10 game stretch. After a 5-2 win over Milwaukee, they are suddenly a half game out of the aforementioned Brewers, and still have two more games in the series to make it up. While there is plenty of time left to mess it up, October in St. Louis seems more likely than it has in a very long time.