The St. Louis Cardinals have one of the most balanced attacks in all of Major League Baseball. Their pitching staff leads in earned-run average, the defense has the fewest errors in baseball and the lineup is ranked fourth of the 30 teams, but every power-producing engine needs a spark plug.

For the Cardinals, that’s Matt Carpenter.

Carpenter began the season as a post-Tony La Russa version of Skip Schumaker. Originally a third baseman, manager Mike Matheny wanted him to move to be the starting second baseman in 2013 in a move similar to 2009 when Schumaker, now with the Los Angeles Dodgers, moved from the outfield to second base.

Carpenter has committed four errors through 58 of the team’s first 61 games while playing a combination of second base and third base, but he has quickly become an incredibly valuable asset.

Centerfielder Jon Jay began the season as the leadoff hitter, but he struggled to get his season started at the plate (his batting average was .204 in April). Matheny had enough of starting every game with one out, so he moved Jay to the seventh spot in the order May 2 and replaced him in the leadoff spot with Carpenter.

Carpenter was hitting .288 when he became the full-time leadoff hitter, and he’s since gone on a tear. He’s raised his average to .333, including 17 multi-hit games since Matheny moved him to the leadoff spot full time.

His rise to the top of the lineup coincided, not coincidently, with a Cardinals hot streak. The team compiled a 20-7 record in May and has won five of eight games in the first week of June.

They also had baseball’s best batting average (.289) in May, meaning the hitters behind Carpenter also hit well.

Catcher Yadier Molina led the team with a .394 average, but rightfielder Carlos Beltran, third baseman David Freese and shortstop Pete Kozma all hit .267 or better, not to mention Jay’s .284 average and 15 runs batted in, which tied him with Beltran for second most on the team in May.

“I feel like every time I get on there someone drives me in,” Carpenter told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch after Monday’s 7-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, in which he went 3-for-5 with three runs scored.

In addition, the move down in the order has been as beneficial to Jay as the move up has been for Carpenter. The Cardinals had their cake and ate it, too.

Jay’s batting average improved from .204 May 1 to .286 May 21 before a recent slump that included consecutive hitless two-game series against the Kansas City Royals.

But certainly, the leadoff spot is what makes the rest of the game go. Carpenter gets on base, and Beltran, Molina and Matt Holliday drive him home to establish crucial early leads, which in turn allow pitchers to be more aggressive early in games.

But it all starts with Carpenter, who is quickly putting together one of the most impressive seasons of any Cardinals leadoff hitter since David Eckstein hit .295 with 90 runs scored, eight homeruns, 61 RBIs and 11 stolen bases in 2005 on a team that won 100 games.

He’s also tough. Diamondbacks pitchers hit him three times Wednesday, and he came back the next night with four hits in five at-bats.

Carpenter has done exactly what any team needs from a leadoff hitter. He is the ignition that has put the Cardinals on pace toward another historically good record.

Once again, the battle for I-70 is about to get underway. However, this season, it’s going Hatfield’s and McCoy’s style, as the week will be literally a trek up and down the highway for one of the few back-to-back “natural rival” home-and-home interleague series. In the first half of the series, the Cardinals will go to Kansas City to see the Royals, in the final leg of an eight-game road spin.

The series between the Cardinals and Royals is always an interesting one. It’s a matchup of heavy fan interest, as there are the underlying points of interstate relationships, the perceived “superiority issues” of the Cardinals vs. the long-suffering Royals, and as it will be forever, the aftermath of the 1985 World Series; a storyline that’s just as sore of a subject today as it was 28 years ago.

Here are the stories of the two teams as they face off for the first half of the series. Where they have been, where they are going and what’s at stake currently.

The Cardinals coming in: The Cardinals enter with an MLB best record of 32-17, and 1.5 games ahead in the National League Central. They are coming off of a very competitive series with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which capped with a second consecutive win over their ace Clayton Kershaw. Overall, the team has not lost a series, nor recorded consecutive losses, in nearly a month. Their 17 road wins are the best mark in the Majors as well.

Over the past week, the run production load has been diverse, with Daniel Descalso leading the team in runs driven in with six, most coming on his grand slam in San Diego last Tuesday. David Freese and Allen Craig are both tied for second with five RBI….Yadier Molina enters the series third in the NL in hitting with a .339 average…Pete Kozma turned in a 4 for 4 performance on Sunday with three doubles, including one with the bases loaded to pull the club ahead….Seth Maness recorded his first loss of his career on Saturday evening, but rebounded to produce a bases loaded double play on Sunday to get his fourth win of the season, all coming in relief and within the last month.

The Royals coming in: Kansas City enters with a season mark of 21-26 and in fourth place in the American League Central, a disappointing turn for a team that was largely believed to be on the brink of a breakthrough coming into the season. They also enter on the heels of four-game sweep at home from the Los Angeles Angels, and overall are on a five-game losing streak. They have not won a home series since May 3-6 vs. the Chicago White Sox

Alex Gordon is having perhaps his best season to date. The left fielder is hitting .335, with six home runs and 30 RBI. His average is fifth best in the AL….Catcher Salvador Perez is hitting .311, with four multi-hit games in his last 10….overall, the Royals are hitting .262 as club, ninth best in baseball, but have managed only 190 runs as a result, the third worse total in the AL.

Pitching Matchups

Monday (1:10)—James Shields (2-5) vs. Adam Wainwright (6-3): Monday’s matchup is a showdown of both club’s aces and two of the better arms in all of baseball. Shields has pitched in perhaps the toughest luck of any starter in the AL. Despite having surrendering only six runs over his last four starts, he has taken the loss in three of four. Wainwright threw 7.1 innings in his last outing to win his sixth game and lower his ERA to 2.38, sixth best in the NL.

Tuesday (7:10)—Ervin Santana (3-4) vs. Tyler Lyons (1-0): Santana surrendered four home runs in his return start against his former club in Anaheim his last time out. For the season, he has turned in a 3.14 ERA, but is also a loser of his last three outings. Lyons won his Major League debut on Wednesday, filling in for the injured Jaime Garcia. The 25-year-old threw seven innings, allowing only four hits, one walk and a single run.

Injury Impact—St. Louis: Out for Season: Rafeal Furcal (Elbow), Jason Motte (Elbow), Jaime Garcia (Shoulder). 60 Day DL: Chris Carpenter (Shoulder); 15-Day DL: Fernando Salas (Shoulder), Jake Westbrook (Elbow), John Gast (Shoulder). Kansas City: Out for Season: Felipe Paulino (Elbow). 60 Day DL: Danny Duffy (Elbow). 15 Day DL: Jarrod Dyson (Ankle).

A look back: The Cardinals won the season series in 2012, 4-2. They outscored the Royals 45-29. On the season, the Royals finished 72-90, good for third place in the AL Central, while the Cardinals finished in second place in the NL Central with an 88-74 record. All-time, the Cardinals lead the series 48-38, and have met once outside of the regular season, in the 1985 World Series, which the Royals won 4-3.

News and Notes:

-          The series is a two-and-two spin, with two games in Kansas City, followed by two in St. Louis. This will be the first interleague games of the season for both clubs.

-          Monday is “Armed Forces Day” at Kaufmann Stadium, and miniature American flags will be given away. Tuesday is “T-Shirt Tuesday”, with a shirt giveaway for the first 10,000 fans.

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It was definitely a Happy Mother’s Day at our house. Hope it was at yours as well. This week, we’re looking back at the gems the Cardinals’ pitched against the Rockies this weekend, a marquee outfielder who can’t get going, and more. Here we go:

Who’s Hot?

Shelby Miller, St. Louis Cardinals

How do you pick which start was more impressive? I finally had to choose Miller’s since I’ve seen Adam Wainwright’s greatness before. I don’t think it’s a stretch at all to say that the 22-year-old pitched the single best game by a rookie starter since Kerry Wood’s 20-strikeout masterpiece against the Astros in 1998. Miller struck out 13, walked NONE and allowed only a broken-bat base hit against the Rockies. Some of the strikeouts were absolutely jaw-dropping. Perfectly placed fastballs. Breaking balls that dropped right over the plate. You name it. Miller had it all working for him. He said after the game on MLB Network that it was the best game he had ever pitched. Among the many stats and charts I’ve seen over the weekend about the pure greatness of this start, this one really jumped out at me: in the past 10 years, how many starts have there been where the pitcher allowed one hit (or none), struck out at least 13 batters, while walking none? Three. That’s it.  Here they are:

• 5/18/2004 – Randy Johnson, age 40, Arizona vs. Atlanta (perfect game)
• 6/13/2012 – Matt Cain, age 27, SF vs. Houston (perfect game)
• 5/10/2013 – Miller

The fact that the Big Unit pitched a perfect game at age 40 quite a feat as well, but a subject for another day. This is a damn impressive list. Miller is 22 and just scratching the surface of his abilities. If you own Miller on your fantasy team, here are a couple of other stats that will have you patting yourself on the back: he has yet to allow more than three earned runs in a start and his strikeout-to-walk ratio is 51-to-11. That is dominating for any starter. Of course, it is important to remember that Miller has less than a dozen major-league starts under his belt and there is bound to be some adjustment as opposing teams become more familiar with him. It would be unrealistic to expect no regression. Then again, as he matures, he figures to get even better. So far, it appears that the #1 starter-like projections predicted for Miller are right on target. After Friday night, Rockies hitters are in position to argue that point.

Who’s Not?

Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers

When your most noteworthy accomplishment of the season is a post-game altercation with another player, you know you’re off to a bad start. Someone please alert Kemp that the 2013 season started over a month ago. Entering Sunday’s games, Kemp’s batting line looked like that of a fourth outfielder on a good team: 1 HR, 14 RBI, 5 SB, .268 average. Okay, the RBI total is a little better than that of a reserve, but that’s about it. He just can’t get on track. How much longer can fantasy owners keep saying, “it’s early – he’ll be fine”? Fantasy owners cannot be happy to see that he is on pace for 4 HRs and 71 runs scored. Kemp has driven in one measly run and stolen a single base since Cinco de Mayo. He might have had an 11-game hitting streak going, but those hits aren’t translating to other stats for fantasy owners (or the Dodgers). Since you likely paid big auction dollars or used a high draft pick on Kemp, you really have no realistic choice but to wait and hope that he gets going soon. Trading him now would be a pennies-on-the-dollar move.

Playing the Name Game

Player A: .298/.365/.632, 4 HR, 13 RBI, 10 runs, 1 SB

Player B: .285/.379/.551, 4 HR, 12 RBI, 10 runs, 0 SB

Player A is the Angels’ Mike Trout. Player B is the Indians’ Mark Reynolds. Trout is being viewed by some baseball analysts as a bust, while Reynolds is being hailed as the best bargain free-agent signing of the year. Both are incorrect. Trout is on pace for 27 homers, 112 RBI, 22 steals and 100 runs scored. Reynolds is not going to hit 50 homers and drive in 150, as he is currently on pace to do. But it’s a mighty nice hot streak for the Sons of Geronimo and fantasy owners to enjoy. Anyone who considers Trout a bust, or who thinks Reynolds is going to maintain his current numbers, is an idiot. Let’s check back in a month.

Player A: 1-0, 3.85 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 22 Ks, 14 IP

Player B: 2-0, 2.31 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 16 Ks, 11 2/3 IP

Player A is Yu Darvish of the Rangers. Player B is Ubaldo Jimenez of the Indians. I had to read those numbers three times to make sure I wasn’t mixing them up with, say, James Shields or another front-line AL starter. Jimenez has actually put together back-to-back quality starts for the Tribe. In fact, Jimenez out-pitched Justin Verlander on Saturday, his third straight win.  Results like that are more in line with what the Indians had in mind when they dealt two of their top pitching prospects to the Rockies for the former All-Star starter in  July 2011. Personally, I wouldn’t trust that Jimenez has made some sort of breakthrough, but his success and that of Scott Kazmir, Cleveland is on a roll the past couple weeks and is bearing down on Detroit for first in the AL Central. The Indians have plenty of hitting. If, by chance, Jimenez can continue pitching this effectively, the Indians will be a big step closer to being a genuine contender.

Random Thoughts

• One final note on Shelby Miller: he has been quoted as saying that he has not shaken off a single pitch Yadier Molina has called for all season. Not only do you not run on Yadi, you don’t shake off Yadi, either.

• Let’s not forget Jon Lester. He pitched a beauty of his own last Friday night against the Blue Jays. He allowed just one hit, a double by Maicer Izturis in the 6^th inning. For the season, Lester is 5-0 with a 2.73 ERA and 0.98 WHIP. It’s not a coincidence that he is pitching like an ace and the Red Sox are winning again.

• Wainwright’s shutout of the Rockies on Saturday was no slouch, either. He didn’t strike out as many batters as Miller did Friday, but he had dazzling command of that 12-to-6 bender that gets hitters bailing out of the batter’s box, only to watch the ball drop right in the zone. When he gets that pitch going, he’s as fun to watch as any dominant ace.

• Wainwright Walk Watch: 4. That’s four batters that Wainwright has walked this season (in a National League-high 58 2/3 innings), compared with 55 strikeouts. That’s a 13.75 strikeout-to-walk ratio, which is so far beyond ridiculously good that it’s, well, ridiculous.

• On the other hand, there’s poor Philip Humber of the Astros. First he was banished to the bullpen by Houston. Then, after getting hammered out of the pen Saturday night, his stats sit thusly: 0-8, a ghastly 9.59 ERA, 2.02 WHIP, 43 ERA+. When you see that Humber has allowed 14 hits and nearly four walks per nine innings, it’s no wonder he has been charged with the loss in eight of his nine appearances this season. How did he ever pitch a perfect game?
• I think enough has been said and written about how terrible Angel Hernandez as an umpire. On second thought, no, it hasn’t been enough – his continued employment in an embarrassment to baseball. Likewise with Bob Davidson. A scientific poll (read: not scientific at all) reveals that the overall quality of umpiring would double if just those two were pink-slipped.

• As incompetent as Hernandez’s blown home run call was, it pales in comparison to the fiasco the following night with Astros manager Bo Porter just making up rules regarding pitching changes. Botching a call is nothing compared to not knowing the stinking rule book. My idea for an outside-the-box punishment for those umpires? Having to umpire a game while wearing dunce caps.

• They could borrow them from the ESPN executives who think it’s a good idea to pay John Kruk a salary to talk about baseball on TV.

Follow me on Twitter: @ccaylor10

Spring Training games are in full effect with all 30 teams,  including the St. Louis Cardinals, took to the field to start getting ready for the season.  Meanwhile, Major League Baseball has opened the vaults and given the world access to video clips that were previously locked away.

The Cardinals were a powerhouse team in the National League in the 1980′s.  Three appearances in the World Series, including winning the championship in 1982, as well as some key moments throughout the decade had many people watching the team very closely.

Today, i70baseball brings you nine classic moments from the Cardinals in the 1980′s, courtesy of Major League Baseball.

Use the navigation controls below to take a look at each of the videos.  Leave us some comments and tell us the moments you most remember from the 1980′s in St. Louis.

Bruce Sutter Closes Out 1982 World Series

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Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball
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KANSAS CITY, MO (January 31, 2013) – The Kansas City Royals and FOX Sports Kansas City today announced a 142-game television schedule for the 2013 season, featuring two exhibition games and 140 regular season games.

The Royals and FOX Sports Kansas City are entering the sixth season of a long-term agreement in which FOX Sports Kansas City is the exclusive television home of Royals baseball.  The 140-game regular season television schedule features 67 road games and 73 from Kauffman Stadium.  Every game on FOX Sports Kansas City will be preceded by a 30-minute pre-game show, “Hy-Vee Royals Live,” and followed by the “Boulevard Royals Live” post-game show.  All 140 regular season telecasts will be presented in High Definition.

FOX Sports Kansas City’s coverage of Royals baseball kicks off with a Spring Training telecast from Surprise, Ariz., on Monday, March 25, when the Royals host the Los Angeles Dodgers at 8:05 p.m. (CDT).  A second exhibition game will be broadcast on Wednesday, March 27, when Kansas City hosts the Chicago Cubs, also at 8:05 p.m. (CDT).

FSKC will air Kansas City’s Opening Day contest on April 1 at Chicago as well as the April 8 home opener vs. Minnesota.

Ryan Lefebvre will call 90 regular season games and one exhibition for Fox Sports Kansas City and Steve Physioc will provide the play-by-play on 50 games during the season and one exhibition.  Rex Hudler will return for his second season as the analyst and Royals’ Hall of Famer, Jeff Montgomery, will provide analysis throughout the season on Royals Live with host Joel Goldberg.

The complete season schedule with telecasts is listed on the attached schedule, which you can download by clicking here.  All game times and the TV schedule are subject to change.

The St. Louis Cardinals took the field June 10, 2012 against the Cleveland Indians with seven of their projected starters on the disabled list and Matt Holliday on the bench with a minor injury. Not surprisingly, the team was mired in an 11-19 slump. But the Cardinals might be better prepared to handle a similar rash of injuries in 2013.

Ty Wigginton will add depth to the Cardinals bench.

The 2012 Cardinals fought through much of May and June without the likes of Jon Jay, Skip Schumaker, Lance Berkman and Matt Carpenter. That stretch tested the team’s depth as players such as Shane Robinson, Daniel Descalso and Matt Adams did their best to fill the holes left in the lineup and on the field.

The Cardinals were far from a great team at that point in the season, and their record during that portion of the season is a large reason why they finished nine games behind the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Central.

Sure, the Cardinals likely wouldn’t have caught the Reds regardless, but they would’ve been five games out if they went 15-15 in the 30-game stretch in May and June, and they would’ve been in a final-week battle with the Reds had they played above .500 in that stretch.

Looking ahead to 2013, the Cardinals still have a fairly veteran lineup that will probably feature at least four players 30 years old or older. Age and health were concerns for the Cardinals heading into last season, and many of those same concerns will remain this year. Lance Berkman is the only player age 30 or older who is no longer with the team.

That means the Cardinals will need to have players ready to fill in and contribute at a high level when injuries hit.

The only free agent hitter they signed in the offseason was 35-year-old Ty Wigginton, so they didn’t bolster their bench, especially after trading Schumaker to the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, the team still has more depth on its roster and in the minor leagues.

If shortstop Rafael Furcal gets hurt, the Cardinals can call on last year’s late-season hero Pete Kozma, who showed last year he can be productive. If Carlos Beltran or Matt Holliday get hurt, Allen Craig could move from first base or Matt Carpenter could fill those spots. Plus, minor leaguers such as outfielder Oscar Taveras and second baseman Kolten Wong are nearly ready to play in the big leagues, anyway.

Realistically, the Cardinals would have to have more than five starters hurt at the same time before they would start running out of decent replacement options. But even in that case, Adams is still an option to fill in at first base from time to time, so long as he shows some improvement from his 27-game stint in the big leagues that yielded a .244 batting average with two homeruns and 13 RBIs.

In addition to depth in the field, the Cardinals found last year that they have quite a stockpile of young pitchers who now have postseason experience and can certainly fill any gaps if someone in the rotation or bullpen gets hurt. Lance Lynn, Joe Kelly, Shelby Miller and Trevor Rosenthal are all more-than-decent options should Adam Wainwright or Chris Carpenter get hurt again, or if Jaime Garcia continues to have shoulder problems.

The Cardinals haven’t done much during the offseason to fortify their bench, but they already have enough interchangeable parts on their roster to keep the team competitive should they face another year when the regular lineup struggles to stay healthy.

And with a veteran team, those replacement parts are most likely going to be vital to the team’s success in 2013.

One of the St. Louis Cardinals’ most talked about needs heading into the offseason concerned who would patrol the dirt around second base next season at Busch Stadium, but they might start the 2013 season and contend for a playoff spot with the same players who did that job in 2012.

The Cardinals ended last season with Daniel Descalso as the starting second baseman and Pete Kozma as the starting shortstop.

Descalso is a light-hitting, strong defensive player who can make great plays in the field and come up with a hit at a critical time. The problem is those moments don’t happen often, and he can usually be counted on to hit near his career average of .245.

Kozma was the Cardinals’ first-round draft pick in 2007 and muddled his way through the minors for much of the next five years before the big club called him up when shortstop Rafael Furcal hurt his elbow Aug. 31 against the Washington Nationals. Kozma capitalized on his first opportunity for regular playing time in the big leagues by hitting .333 in the final month of the season while playing solid defense.

However, the Cardinals were reluctant to have Descalso and Kozma as their starting second baseman and shortstop for next season. Club officials have repeatedly expressed hope and confidence that Furcal’s recovery is going well and he will be ready to be the everyday shortstop at the beginning of the season. They also told utility man Matt Carpenter to come to Spring Training prepared to play second base.

Neither of those moves show much confidence in the duo that manned the middle infield as the Cardinals played their way to within one win of a World Series appearance, especially considering rumors the team has been looking to sign or trade for a middle infielder from other organizations.

The Cardinals have been linked to rumors about players such as Cleveland Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus, Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Dee Gordon and free agent utility player Scott Hairston.

Whether or not the Cardinals make a move to bring in a new middle infielder, their current options should be good enough for the team to compete for a playoff spot and the National League Central Division title. No, the middle infield might not have a great impact on the lineup, but all of those players are solid to above-average defenders, and defense was one of the poor aspects of last year’s team.

The Cardinals have plenty of power in their lineup with Matt Holliday, David Freese, Allen Craig, Carlos Beltran and Yadier Molina. They don’t need their second baseman and shortstop to hit .280 with 10-15 homeruns and 60 RBIs. Sure, that would be nice, but this team is built to withstand a couple of lineup spots that produce less-than-average numbers.

Even if Furcal doesn’t come back healthy, the Cardinals have a good backup option at shortstop with Kozma, who has for some reason been undervalued during the offseason. Yes, his numbers in the minor leagues were awful, and the Cardinals nearly cut him from the 40-man roster more than once in 2012, but he showed he can play at the major league level. Even if his future numbers aren’t as good as what he did last season, the Cardinals will have a decent shortstop.

On the other side of the base, the Cardinals know what to expect from Descalso. He won’t hit much, but he will play exceptional defense, which is something that will be a question mark if Carpenter wins the job in Spring Training.

In any case, the Cardinals will be in fine shape if they don’t acquire another middle infielder before the 2013 season begins. And with all of the young pitchers in the system, they will have leverage to make a move during the season as the trading deadline approaches at the end of July.

Although they haven’t made a sexy move in the offseason that leads to the obligatory hand-wringing from a segment of fans who think offseason headlines lead to championship-caliber seasons., the Cardinals could start play in April with their current roster and compete with the top teams in the National League.

As another offseason of eye-poppingly large free-agent contracts begins to wind down, the St. Louis Cardinals find themselves in an unfortunate, yet familiar situation as one of their biggest stars heads into the final year of his contract.

It was Albert Pujols in 2011; it will be Adam Wainwright in 2013.

The Cardinals co-ace is headed into the final year of his six-year, $59.4-million contract. That number is almost laughably low for a  Cy Young Award quality pitcher with a career 80-48 record, 3.15 ERA. In the past year, pitchers with less impressive numbers have signed contracts nearly triple the size of Wainwright’s current deal.

The San Francisco Giants signed Matt Cain in April to a six-year, $127.5-million extension. That was, of course, before he had a career season that included starting the All-Star Game and pitching a perfect game June 13 against the Houston Astros. The Los Angeles Dodgers also recently signed former Cy Young winner Zack Grienke to a six-year, $147-million contract. And those are just the big-name pitchers.

Even mediocre pitchers got paid big bucks this offseason. The Detroit Tigers signed Anibal Sanchez, who has a career 48-51 record and 3.75 ERA, to a five year contract worth $80 million. The Chicago Cubs were in the hunt for Sanchez, but they quickly turned around and gave Edwin Jackson, a 70-71 career pitcher with a 4.40 ERA, a four-year, $52-million deal.

If those types of pitchers are getting around $15 million per year, a pitcher with Wainwright’s record could honestly be looking at the possibility of a contract that pays him closer to $30 million than $20 million per year. That’s one heck of an investment.

The Pujols situation blew up in Spring Training of 2011 when Pujols cut off contract negotiations, and that issue lingered throughout the entire season. Pujols, of course, ended up signing with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for 10 years and $254 millions the following offseason.

The Cardinals avoided a similar situation with catcher Yadier Molina when they gave him a five-year, $75-million contract extension in Spring Training before the 2012 season even began.

If the Cardinals and Wainwright don’t reach a deal before the 2013 season starts, the unrest in St. Louis concerning the team’s best pitcher will build and build whether Wainwright pitches great or pitches poorly.

The Cardinals have plenty of incentives to get a deal done quickly, but Wainwright could play the system and cash in at the end of next season. The Cardinals would likely be able to sign Wainwright at a cheaper price now because no other teams are currently able to offer him contracts, and if Wainwright pitches great in 2013, that will also drive up his price.

The team’s other co-ace, Chris Carpenter, currently holds the record as the highest-paid pitcher in Cardinals history. He signed a five-year, $63-million contract in 2006.

Like it or not, the Cardinals need to be prepared to shatter that record with Wainwright because the price for good starting pitchers continues to skyrocket. It’s not impossible to think Wainwright could sign the largest pitcher’s contract in the history of the game, exceeding the seven-year, $161-million contract the New York Yankees gave CC Sabathia before the 2009 season began.

Otherwise, St. Louis baseball fans might spend next Christmas bemoaning the fact that one of the best pitchers in franchise history moved on to take a huge sum of money somewhere else.

After Pujols’ departure in December 2011, that’s probably a Christmas story few Cardinals fans would want to relive.

Correction: a previous version of this article claimed Adam Wainwright was a former Cy Young Award winner.  That has since been corrected.

As the Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels spent unprecedented amounts of money during the offseason to try to establish dominance, a battle between rivals in the Midwest could be the most intense race of the 2013 season.

The St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds have won the National League Central Division in three of the past four seasons, and each team has made moves this offseason to bolster their chances to do so again next year.

The Cardinals haven’t added much, but they also didn’t have many holes to fill. They signed left-handed relief pitcher Randy Choate to a three-year, $7.5 million contract to fill the team’s biggest need in the bullpen. They also signed bench player Ty Wigginton to a two-year, $5 million deal, but unless Wigginton comes up with a late-inning homer against the Reds, that signing is negligable.

The Reds, who beat the Cardinals by nine games last year to win the division, made more substantial moves. They resigned reliever Jonathan Broxton to a three-year, $21 million contract to be the team’s closer for the foreseeable future and resigned leftfielder Ryan Ludwick for $15 million across two years. The Reds also traded for outfielder Shin-Soo Choo from the Indians to be their centerfielder and leadoff hitter next year.

The Broxton signing should allow flamethrower Aroldis Chapman to be in the starting rotation next year, and the trade for Choo fills a massive hole at the top of the lineup.

Drew Stubbs, who went to the Indians in the trade, held that spot last season, but he hit just .213 with a .277 on-base percentage and 166 strikeouts. By contrast, Choo hit .283 with a .373 on-base percentage and struck out 150 times. That’s still a lot of strikeouts for a leadoff hitter, but Choo provides more power and is certainly an upgrade in a spot the Reds tried to improve at last season’s trading deadline.

Although neither team has made nearly as many moves as several other teams so far in the offseason, the Cardinals and Reds have fortified their rosters to stage quite a battle throughout the 2013 season. They’ll do so without handing out contracts worth more than $100 million, as the Dodgers did by signing pitcher Zack Greinke and Angels did by signing outfielder Josh Hamilton.

The Cardinals and Reds have a recent history full of intense games that have at times led to shouting matches and even a full-out brawl in 2010. With both teams loaded and ready for battle heading into the season, one might think this could be a season series full of more temper tantrums and games that will leave blood boiling for both teams and both fanbases.

But this year’s rivalry might take a more professional turn. Both the Cardinals and Reds know each organization has a good team, and they will likely be the two strongest contenders for the NL Central Division title.

In past years, the Reds were an up-and-coming team that felt it had to rough up the more established Cardinals to gain entrance to the top of the division. Those days are gone. General manager Walt Jocketty has built a roster with a good starting rotation, solid bullpen and increasingly potent lineup filled with stars such as Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce.

This year’s Cardinals-Reds rivalry could be similar to recent battles in the AL West between the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Both teams had some of the most talented rosters in the league, and they stuck strictly to playing solid, intense yet not over-the-top baseball games.

Although it might be fun for fans to watch for extracurricular activities on the field and in the dugouts similar to a playoff hockey game, it might be even more impressive to watch a season series that has good, high-quality baseball.

So while big-market teams on the West Coast battle each other with dollar bills in the offseason, actual games between the Cardinals and Reds next season could create the most interesting division races in all of baseball.

The St. Louis Cardinals trotted out a new uniform this week that they will wear on Saturday home games during the 2013 season. The new alternate jersey has a great retro look, but the franchise could’ve taken one more step to truly take the new look back in time.

The new jerseys will be an off-white color similar to the San Francisco Giants home uniforms, and “St. Louis” will grace the front of the jersey along with the traditional birds on the bat. It will also have red piping run down the middle, which hearkens back to Stan Musial‘s playing days.

All of that makes for a nice look, but the Cardinals also should’ve brought back the hats the team wore when Musial led the team through the 1940s and 1950s at Sportsman’s Park.

In those days, the Cardinals wore a hat that had a navy blue top with the red, interlocking “STL” logo and a red bill. The hat, combined with the uniform style, made for one of the best looks in the history of the franchise. If the Musial’s statue outside Busch Stadium was painted, it would depict him wearing that style hat.

Instead, the Cardinals will wear the common all-red hats with the new uniform. That is still a fine look, but the Cardinals missed an opportunity to go all the way and have a completely new, yet historical uniform.

Now, before we go on for too long about how great the new uniform is, the Cardinals are likely to receive a fair amount of backlash for messing with the team’s current home and away uniforms. They were one of four teams, along with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees, to have just two uniforms: white at home and gray on the road.

The lack of uniform choices is something only historical franchises do because newer teams had no traditions to step on when creating their looks, and others just want to have plenty of fashion choices in an age of extreme marketing and one when football teams hardly wear the same uniform twice in the same season.

People’s concerns about the Cardinals jumping in the pool of alternate jerseys aren’t crazy. The Cardinals are a franchise that has some of the best looking uniforms in the sport in part because they are clean and consistent. Fans know it’s game time when the Cardinals take the field in their home whites. Any colored jerseys are for batting practice and batting practice only. Sadly, that can’t be said for many teams these days.

But, the Cardinals did a good job with the new look. The franchise last wore “St. Louis” across the front of the jersey in 1932, and it was a good-looking uniform. Plus, this will only be a once per week deal, just as the hats with the bird logo are reserved for Sunday home games.

The Cardinals did make one other significant uniform change, however, The team will now wear the –all-red hats on the road as well as at home. The navy blue road hats the team has worn on the road since 1992 will apparently be rarely used, perhaps for special occasions. That is still something the organization is trying to decide.

That’s also not a horrible change. The Cardinals wore red hats on the road in the past, but the blue hats did make the team look good on the road for 20 years. That change is more of a fashion change than the new jersey. Many teams are getting away from the dark colors of the 1990s, and this will move the Cardinals in that direction.

So although the changes will give the Cardinals a good new look that doesn’t take away from their long-standing uniform traditions, the old-style blue hat with a red bill would have completed the ensemble.