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rockondlouie wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026 14:47 pm I've been saying the 2026 Team > 2025 Team all Winter.

Here's why:

I think they can shorten games to 5 - 6 inning affairs and it's the BULLPEN that will make the difference.

If they can get the ball to Svanson/1.94 ERA--O'Brien/2.06 ERA--Leahy/3.07 ERA (I keep him in the pen')--and JoJo/2.07 ERA (I'm keeping him), then they can win many low scoring games.

The BULLPEN is the key to the Cardinals having a way more competitive 2026 season than many of the naysayers believe.

Keep an eye on the pen', it's going to be THE KEY to the 2026 team surprising to the upside.

JMO

rockondlouie wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026 14:47 pm I've been saying the 2026 Team > 2025 Team all Winter.

Here's why:

I think they can shorten games to 5 - 6 inning affairs and it's the BULLPEN that will make the difference.

If they can get the ball to Svanson/1.94 ERA--O'Brien/2.06 ERA--Leahy/3.07 ERA (I keep him in the pen')--and JoJo/2.07 ERA (I'm keeping him), then they can win many low scoring games.

The BULLPEN is the key to the Cardinals having a way more competitive 2026 season than many of the naysayers believe.

Keep an eye on the pen', it's going to be THE KEY to the 2026 team surprising to the upside.

JMO

bccardsfan wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026 14:59 pm

rockondlouie wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026 14:47 pm I've been saying the 2026 Team > 2025 Team all Winter.

Here's why:

I think they can shorten games to 5 - 6 inning affairs and it's the BULLPEN that will make the difference.

If they can get the ball to Svanson/1.94 ERA--O'Brien/2.06 ERA--Leahy/3.07 ERA (I keep him in the pen')--and JoJo/2.07 ERA (I'm keeping him), then they can win many low scoring games.

The BULLPEN is the key to the Cardinals having a way more competitive 2026 season than many of the naysayers believe.

Keep an eye on the pen', it's going to be THE KEY to the 2026 team surprising to the upside.

JMO

Well Rock, they are also going to have to score some runs and have starters that can go 6 innings most days and not put them out of the game by the third inning. They should have pretty good D up the middle. The corners and C may be suspect. I look forward to watching JJW debut and to seeing what sort of rotation they will have. Also to seeing if Walker or Gorman can salvage their careers, if IH and Burely can improve, if Winn will improve with his knee not barking, etc.... I suspect around .500 if things go well, and 70-75 wins if they don't.... but what do I know..?

NYCardsFan wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026 15:05 pm

rockondlouie wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026 14:47 pm I've been saying the 2026 Team > 2025 Team all Winter.

Here's why:

I think they can shorten games to 5 - 6 inning affairs and it's the BULLPEN that will make the difference.

If they can get the ball to Svanson/1.94 ERA--O'Brien/2.06 ERA--Leahy/3.07 ERA (I keep him in the pen')--and JoJo/2.07 ERA (I'm keeping him), then they can win many low scoring games.

The BULLPEN is the key to the Cardinals having a way more competitive 2026 season than many of the naysayers believe.

Keep an eye on the pen', it's going to be THE KEY to the 2026 team surprising to the upside.

JMO

One problem with that argument, at least as it relates to Y/Y improvement in team performance, is that the 2025 Cardinals bullpen was already pretty decent.

2025 Cardinals Relief Pitching (MLB rank)
fWAR: 5.1 (9th)
ERA: 3.74 (10th)
FIP: 3.65 (3rd)
xFIP: 3.96 (4th)
ERA-: 91 (11th)
FIP-: 90 (5th)
xFIP-: 96 (4th)

The Cardinals were 78-84 (x-W/L: 74-88) last year with basically a top-10 (or better) bullpen. So you're going to have to find other sources of "surprise to the upside" beyond the bullpen to have a "way more competitive 2026."

dugoutrex wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026 15:06 pm

bccardsfan wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026 14:59 pm

rockondlouie wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026 14:47 pm I've been saying the 2026 Team > 2025 Team all Winter.

Here's why:

I think they can shorten games to 5 - 6 inning affairs and it's the BULLPEN that will make the difference.

If they can get the ball to Svanson/1.94 ERA--O'Brien/2.06 ERA--Leahy/3.07 ERA (I keep him in the pen')--and JoJo/2.07 ERA (I'm keeping him), then they can win many low scoring games.

The BULLPEN is the key to the Cardinals having a way more competitive 2026 season than many of the naysayers believe.

Keep an eye on the pen', it's going to be THE KEY to the 2026 team surprising to the upside.

JMO

Well Rock, they are also going to have to score some runs and have starters that can go 6 innings most days and not put them out of the game by the third inning. They should have pretty good D up the middle. The corners and C may be suspect. I look forward to watching JJW debut and to seeing what sort of rotation they will have. Also to seeing if Walker or Gorman can salvage their careers, if IH and Burely can improve, if Winn will improve with his knee not barking, etc.... I suspect around .500 if things go well, and 70-75 wins if they don't.... but what do I know..?

I think we will be considerably worse and have been saying so all Winter long. The pitching staff might be slightly better but I do not think they will have the 2 1/2 month stretch that led to us being 9 games over in June. Plus, our offense is worse this year to boot!

bccardsfan wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026 15:16 pm

dugoutrex wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026 15:06 pm

bccardsfan wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026 14:59 pm

rockondlouie wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026 14:47 pm I've been saying the 2026 Team > 2025 Team all Winter.

Here's why:

I think they can shorten games to 5 - 6 inning affairs and it's the BULLPEN that will make the difference.

If they can get the ball to Svanson/1.94 ERA--O'Brien/2.06 ERA--Leahy/3.07 ERA (I keep him in the pen')--and JoJo/2.07 ERA (I'm keeping him), then they can win many low scoring games.

The BULLPEN is the key to the Cardinals having a way more competitive 2026 season than many of the naysayers believe.

Keep an eye on the pen', it's going to be THE KEY to the 2026 team surprising to the upside.

JMO

Well Rock, they are also going to have to score some runs and have starters that can go 6 innings most days and not put them out of the game by the third inning. They should have pretty good D up the middle. The corners and C may be suspect. I look forward to watching JJW debut and to seeing what sort of rotation they will have. Also to seeing if Walker or Gorman can salvage their careers, if IH and Burely can improve, if Winn will improve with his knee not barking, etc.... I suspect around .500 if things go well, and 70-75 wins if they don't.... but what do I know..?

I think we will be considerably worse and have been saying so all Winter long. The pitching staff might be slightly better but I do not think they will have the 2 1/2 month stretch that led to us being 9 games over in June. Plus, our offense is worse this year to boot!

I think a lot depends on whether JJW can actually be a good hitter in the bigs, and how long it takes him to get to that level. I don't the the rotation will be any worse that it was, but yes, it remains to be seen how good they are. We are going to need some surprises to be in the .500 range. Like JJW is phenominal, Walker and or Gorman actually do something, IH breaks out, who knows. We could really struggle to score runs....

bccardsfan wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026 14:59 pm

rockondlouie wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026 14:47 pm I've been saying the 2026 Team > 2025 Team all Winter.

Here's why:

I think they can shorten games to 5 - 6 inning affairs and it's the BULLPEN that will make the difference.

If they can get the ball to Svanson/1.94 ERA--O'Brien/2.06 ERA--Leahy/3.07 ERA (I keep him in the pen')--and JoJo/2.07 ERA (I'm keeping him), then they can win many low scoring games.

The BULLPEN is the key to the Cardinals having a way more competitive 2026 season than many of the naysayers believe.

Keep an eye on the pen', it's going to be THE KEY to the 2026 team surprising to the upside.

JMO

Well Rock, they are also going to have to score some runs and have starters that can go 6 innings most days and not put them out of the game by the third inning. They should have pretty good D up the middle. The corners and C may be suspect. I look forward to watching JJW debut and to seeing what sort of rotation they will have. Also to seeing if Walker or Gorman can salvage their careers, if IH and Burely can improve, if Winn will improve with his knee not barking, etc.... I suspect around .500 if things go well, and 70-75 wins if they don't.... but what do I know..?

rockondlouie wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026 14:47 pm I've been saying the 2026 Team > 2025 Team all Winter.

Here's why:

I think they can shorten games to 5 - 6 inning affairs and it's the BULLPEN that will make the difference.

If they can get the ball to Svanson/1.94 ERA--O'Brien/2.06 ERA--Leahy/3.07 ERA (I keep him in the pen')--and JoJo/2.07 ERA (I'm keeping him), then they can win many low scoring games.

The BULLPEN is the key to the Cardinals having a way more competitive 2026 season than many of the naysayers believe.

Keep an eye on the pen', it's going to be THE KEY to the 2026 team surprising to the upside.

JMO

Hoosier59 wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026 16:48 pm JJ should be able to at least duplicate the numbers that Donovan put up.
Gorman, even if he doesn’t improve should be able replicate the stats put up by last years 3rd basemen.
Winn, if healthy, should put up better numbers.
A healthy Herrera should have better stats.
Burleson should be able to repeat his numbers, if not improve upon them.
So where is the rest of the offense going to come from? Basically it’s either by incumbent players improving, or by new players beating them out! The thing is, there hasn’t been any new players brought in, either by trades or signings!
The bullpen should be strong, if it’s not completely over used. Which is an issue if the starters aren’t healthy. I still think at least one, if not two veteran starters need to be signed. That wouldn’t be needed if we knew May, Fitts, and Dobbins would be healthy, but all three are risky!

Goldfan wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026 17:15 pm The SP pitching isn’t close to good enough to keep them in low scoring close games.

And this
Gorman
Walker
Noot
Scott
Pages
5 out of 9 starters who CAN’T HIT
If Herrera is behind the plate and Pages isn’t in lineup then whoever is in his spot is barely better.
Rock I respect your opinion….but you’ve looked at this a little backwards highlighting the BP as a reason the team is better……BP’s are for when you’re winning at the end of the game….which is going to be tough to do