Case for the Red Birds

Year after year, the St. Louis Cardinals have a roster built for a championship. This team always has a great mix of veteran leadership and young, developing players. Guys like John Lackey, Jhonny Peralta, Randy Choate, Mark Reynolds are the veterans that mentor the younger players, helping them on and off the field. Then the talent of the prospects is astounding. Carlos Martinez, Kolten Wong, Michael Wacha, Matt Adams are just some of the young guys that are able to perform on the field and look to do so the rest of their career's journey. But the thing that makes the red birds so special is that their depth is like nothing we've seen before in baseball. Matt Adams gets hurt, no problem. Mark Reynolds comes in and plays first base while Adams is hurt. Reynolds' numbers aren't amazing or even good to say the least, but just the presence he brings is unmatched by any other backup. The depth in the outfield is outstanding. Matt Holiday is spending time hopping on and off the disabled list, so the team trades for Brandon Moss. The power hitting corner outfielder is also having an off year, but is a great guy to bring off the bench when you need a big hit. Probably the most shocking of them all is Randal Grichuk. This kid can flat out play ball. The rookie is hitting .287 with 14 homers and 43 RBIs in an amazing 77 games. When everyone is healthy, the projected outfield looks like Holiday in left, Jay in center, Heyward in right. That leaves Grichuk, Moss, Bourjos, and Piscotty all as outfield reserves. That is incredible how deep in talent they are. Even more impressive than that is the bullpen depth. With the additions of Jonathan Broxton and Steve Cishek only add to what was already a strong area. Trevor Rosenthal is an All Star closer, Randy Choate is still one of the best lefty relievers in the game. Broxton and Cishek are former closers that will be tough to stop late in games. The Birds have yet again set themselves up for another deep post season run, and I don't see why they can't do it. In the National League I see nobody that can stop them. Washington has collapsed as of late, pushing them away from competing at such a high level. The Los Angeles Dodgers still have questions offensively due to the late struggles of Joc Pederson and Yasiel Puig. In my opinion, the Cardinals have the edge over the Giants in a five or seven game series because Bumgarner can't pitch every game. I seriously believe the door is wide open for the Cardinals to walk straight to the World Series with the talent they have. The red birds are playing very well, and if they can keep it up, the October Classic will return to St. Louis. @Nathanpigg5