The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Red October
Cardinals to take on wild-card Nationals in surprising matchup
Similar paths
Both teams were hobbled to varying degrees to start the season only to rebound. Both
teams rely on mostly veterans with some youth. Both teams are led by old-school managers who deploy flexible utility players (Washington’s Howie Kendrick, St. Louis’ Tommy Edman) and embrace parts of the game that analytics suggest are detrimental. They like sacrifices and bunts. They tied for the NL lead in steals with 116. They talk about run production with the word “manufacture” instead of “math.”
Old guard vs. newcomers
The Nationals are the new kids on the block in their first National League Championship Series, while the Cardinals are the old guard, the establishment, the holder of the most World Series titles, aside from the New York Yankees, with 11. The NLCS is a place the Nationals have never been, but it is not unfamiliar. This team, as it will tell you, has been playing elimination games s inceMay24, since the day they returned to Washington at 19-31 and their manager, Dave Martinez, was seemingly destined for the door. The Nationals are not that team anymore. They are the team that got healthy, hit and tied the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in the National League after the season’s 50th game (74-38). They are the one that overtook the Dodgers when it mattered most, in the NL Division Series.
Surging Redbirds
The NL Central champion won the fewest games of any team in the LDS round (92), but the Cardinals possess traits that make a club difficult to deal with in October. They have a capable starting staff, a deep bullpen and a solid defense that didn’t make more than two errors in a single game all season. They have some experience with catcher Yadier Molina, starter Adam Wainwright and outfielder Dexter Fowler. They, perhaps most dangerously of all, have confidence. They sprung a 10-run first inning on the Atlanta Braves in their own Game 5 and bounced the NL East champion from the postseason with a 13-2 victory. The manager, Mike Shildt, embodied the mind-set his team will bring to their series with the Nationals as he stood in the visitor’s clubhouse at SunTrust Park. The 51-year-old usually appears deferential in his cap and glasses, but the hard-charging Tony LaRussa disciple emerged in the clubhouse after the game. He delivered an expletive-laden speech that, unbeknownst to him, one of his younger players live-streamed on social media.
Out of the pen
Perhaps the sharpest divide between these teams in pedigree comes in the bullpen. The Nationals have two true trustworthy relievers, Daniel Hudson and Sean Doolittle, and a best-of-seven series will make it difficult to conceal this weakness as they did against the Dodgers, using starters in relief and generally not allowing anyone other than those two and Corbin to enter in a leverage situation. Yet the Cardinals’ bullpen, which had the fifthbest ERA in baseball this season (3.92), looked shaky at times against the Braves. This is particularly true for closer Carlos Martínez. The right-hander was erratic on the mound and
off it throughout the series, and he told reporters he was struggling with the recent death of someone close to him back home in the Dominican Republic. Martínez pitched 1.3 innings and won Game 1, then blew a save and took the loss in Game 3. Throughout, he took exception to Ronald Acuña Jr., the Braves’ young star whose demonstrative joy and frustration on the field echo that of Nationals phenom Juan Soto.