The Team: St. Louis Cardinals
The Year: 2047
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W/L Record: 120-42
Run Differential: 914 RS vs. 588 RA +326 Runs
Awards: NL Batting Title: C Chad Douglas (.365), NL RBI Leader: James Lamattina (140), NL ERA Leader: Aaron Pitman (1.99), NL Win Leader: Aaron Pitman (23), NL MVP James Lamattina, NL Cy Young Aaron Pitman
All Stars: SP Aaron Pitman, C Chad Douglas, RP Randy Lesley, SP Shawn Gilreath, SP Ben Ward, 1B James Lamattina
League Leading Stat Categories: .60 Away Wins, .293 Team Batting Average, 3.41 Team Bullpen ERA, .716 Team Defensive Average, .986 Fielding Percentage, 60 Home Wins, .350 Team On Base Percentage, .234 Opponent Batting Average, .359 Opponent Slugging Percentage, 72% Quality Start Percentage, 914 Runs Scored, 21 Shutouts, 256 Stolen Bases
Lineup/Bench Rotation/Bullpen
CF Dylan Moffat Aaron Pitma
RF Kyle McCoy Shawn Gilreath
1B James Lamattina Trent McKegherty
DH Jim Davis Ben Ward
SS Fletcher Aylett Jay Danenfields
C Chad Douglas CL Randy Lesley LF J.C. Pannell SU Paul Devine
3B Andreas Frois SR Carlos Elardo
2B Brian Dyball SR Gabriel Smollet
MR Joe Costello
LR Chris Holehouse
OF Chris Martins
C Stewart Cochrane
IF Arturo Brache
1B James Tranter
IF Richard Potticary
The Key Players: In FCM history it'd be hard not to consider the St. Louis Cardinals as one of the elite franchises. They've made 9 World Series as a team and managed to claim two titles. Now 2-7 may not make anyone swoon, but if you've played the game enough you know how hard it is to even get to that point much less finish it off. To get 9 opportunities at a title is a pretty amazing accomplishment as a franchise. The 2047 Cardinals might be the epitome of what made this franchise so successful. GD is known for having a rather unique way of building his teams and it seems like 2047 was where it all came together.
Let's start with what GD prizes more than just about anyone (even me!): speed, speed, and more speed. The leader of that for the 2047 was the title of this post: Dylan Moffat. St. Louis paid a heavy price in 2042 to land Moffat but he was the centerpiece of the type of build that St. Louis was looking for. Elite centerfielders with a lot of speed are not easy to find and in 2042 it was clear that type of player was available at the top of the draft for anyone that wanted him. He also appeared to be a player near ready to contribute to a big league club which made him extra attractive to a team that already had some of their key pieces in place in the lineup and the rotation. In 2043, just a year after being drafted, he made his debut with the team which made 2047 his fifth already with the big league club.
His fifth year wasn't quite as good as the year before, but it was still an outstanding season for him. He scored 114 runs for the team, hit 27 doubles, 3 triples, home runs, drove in 57, struckout just 56 times to 46 walks, stole 43 bases in 50 tries, and slashed 330/381/425 for a .806 OPS. He also had an outstanding post-season with 5 XBHs and 5 SBs to go with an OPS over .900. His 14 outfield assists and solid range in CF also were tremendously helpful for a pitching staff that was more prone to giving up fly balls than many others.
Surrounding Moffat in the outfield was a combination of corner guys with speed and on base skills. The Cards rotated three different hitters into those two spots in various combinations: Kyle McCoy, J.C. Pannell, and Chris Martins. McCoy was a key hitter at the top of the Cardinal order and a very unorthodox right fielder for a top contender. McCoy's role, rather than being a typical corner outfield power producer, was to be the second table setter alongside Moffat. McCoy was pretty damn good at the job too, he hit .298/.340/383 for a .723 OPS on the year. He also scored 93 runs, hit 15 doubles, 2 triples, 9 home runs, drove in 78, stole 44 bases in 51 tries, and grounded into only 3 double plays all year. His production from the 2 hole was instrumental to the RBI producers in the middle and his defensive abilities in RF meant very little dropped out in the St. Louis outfield.
In LF there was something of a platoon, but most of the time J.C. Pannell held down the spot. Chris Martins was used as the first man off the bench, but did rep in for time in the outfield. The two offered very different skill sets, however. Pannell was best known as an on-base force with limited defensive abilities. On the year he scored 89 runs, hit 26 doubles, 4 triples, 15 home runs, drove in 90, walked 65 times to only 64 strikeouts, stole 15 bases in 19 tries, and slashed .301/379/450 on the season. Martins, on the other hand, was a speed and defense player who hit left-handed. In 380 at-bats he scored 56 runs, hit 18 doubles, 1 triple, 6 home runs, drove in 40, and stole 45 bases in 57 tries. He also slashed .276/344/376 for a .720 OPS making him a very valuable fill-in player for the team.
With that group of outfielders they specialized in keeping anything hit in the air from hurting the team and they also got a tremendous amount of versatile production out of the group. It was also the same type of thing they were looking for from a few other positions. Notably, their catcher position produced one of the most unique stat lines for the position the league has ever seen from Chad Douglas. His .365 batting average was enough to win him the battle title for the NL, but he brought a lot to the table for his team. Before we get to his offense, it's worth noting he was an outstanding handler of his pitching staff and threw out 32% of attempted steals against him to give the team an even more lopsided advantage in stealing bases. At the plate the switch hitting catcher slashed .365/415/458 for an .873 OPS as well as 84 runs scored, 40 doubles, 3 triples, 1 home run, 62 RBI, and 49 stolen bases in 59 attempts. That is a tremendous advantage defensively and offensivley from one of the most difficult positions to fill on the field.
The middle of the lineup was tasked with driving in all these thieves and on-base freaks and they did a damn fine job at it. Heading the effort was first baseman James Lamattina who would win the NL MVP award largely thanks to his success doing exactly that: driving in runners. Lamattina was an outstanding defensive player at first (like virtually every Cardinal player), but his bat is what made the biggest impact. He slashed 340/380/565 on the year for a .945 OPS and scored 98 runs, hit 50 doubles, 5 triples, 24 home runs, drove in 140, and struck out only 56 times on the season. All those extra base hits with guys in scoring position made him far and away the best run producer in the NL that year.
His partner in the middle was DH Jim Davis actually had one of his worst seasons on the way to a HOF career. Just the year before he had been the MVP and was significantly more productive. But even at a rate that wasn't his best, Davis was still a force to be reckoned with. He missed about 20 games on the season but still managed to score 87 runs, hit 34 doubles, 3 triples, 20 home runs, drive in 89 runs, walk 68 times to only 63 Ks, and slash .323/401/515 for a 916 OPS. Some of his production may have just been his buddy Lamattina cleaning up all the RBI opportunities, but Davis was still a dangerous hitter. He proved that in the playoffs when he crushed his way through the Marlins pitching staff in leading his team past the Fish in the NLCS in 7 games. His 1.244 OPS in the series, 2 home runs, and 6 RBIs were very likely the difference in the team even making that World Series appearance.
The last three guys we haven't talked about were the rest of the Cardinal infield. The team stressed defense first and foremost at those positions and sent Fletcher Aylett out to SS, Andreas Frois to third, and Brian Dyball to second. Let's get Dyball out of the way first - he was awful. Bordering on an embarrassment to even play. He barely broke the Mendoza line at .202 and OPS'd a paltry .528. He was a good defensive player with some speed but an absolute black hole in the ninth spot. Aylett and Frois were much more well rounded while also being excellent defensive players. Aylett only hit .209 but he did contribute 19 home runs, 21 steals, 86 runs score, 84 RBI, and a .657 OPS. Not ideal by any stretch, but versatile and not terrible from a shortstop. At third Frois was an elite defender who put up a .281 batting average, 13 home runs, 67 runs scored, and 96 RBI to go with a .710 OPS.
The bench was not particularly impressive beyond Martins, though backup catcher Stewart Cochrane was a solid player. Otherwise the group was pretty unimpressive as a whole, which made their 120 win season all the more impressive with such little depth.
The pitching staff was lead by an absolutely stellar effort from HOFer Aaron Pitman. The NL's CY Young winner in 2047, Pitman had arguably his best season as a pro. He went 23-3 with a ridiculous 1.99 ERA. He also struck out 207 batters in 226 innings, walked only 67, allowed only 13 home runs, and held opponents to a .201 batting average. He also managed to go 3-1 in the playoffs in 31 innings with only 5 earned runs against him and a freakishly good .156 OBA. It was precisely the kind of dominant effort that made him the ace of the staff and an eventual HOFer.
The rest of the rotation lacked dominance, but it was really freaking good. Shawn Gilreath managed an 18-7 record in 208 innings with a 3.76 ERA. He allowed a lot of home runs (26) but he did limited walks with only 64 and 177 strikeouts. He also manged a .223 on-base against, but his performance in the playoffs was less stellar. He went 0-3 in the playoffs and struggled to keep runs off the board despite holding his opponents to a batting average under .200.
Trent McKegherty had a solid season with a 17-5 record and a 3.76 ERA in 194 innings. He allowed 20 home runs, walked only 46, but had only 114 strikeouts and a .267 batting average against. Given that statistics, it's pretty amazing he managed to do what he did during the season. He also struggled mightily in the playoffs until the team needed him most. In Game 7 of the World Series he was matched against Aaron "Double A" Anderson and managed to outduel him on his way to 6 shut-out innings and a thrilling 5-0 win to claim the World Series title.
The rest of the rotation featured Ben Ward and Jay Danenfields. Ward pitched 190 innings with a 2.79 ERA and a 17-5 record. He allowed just 14 homeruns and 46 walks while striking out 154 and allowing only a .209 OBA. He also went 3-0 in 20 innings in the playoffs allowing only 3 runs against him. Danenfields pitched his way to a 15-6 record with a 3.47 ERA in 179 innings. He allowed 20 home runs, walked 51, struck out 105, and had an OBA of .243.
The bullpen featured Randy Lesley, a likely future HOF player, as the closer. Lesley went 5-2 on the season with a 2.08 ERA and saved 40 out of his 44 chances. He pitched 69 innings with 68 strikeouts, 17 walks, only 5 home runs, and a .180 OBA. It was a very dominant effort for the all-star.
Helping him out was lights out setup man Paul Devine. He went 4-4 with a 2.58 ERA in 94 innings. He struck out 70, walked 43, allowed 10 home runs, 12 saves, and held opponents to a .222 OBA. The rest of the pen was not impressive in name or stature, but decently effective. Carlos Elardo pitched 45 innings with 28 strikeouts, a 2-1 record, and 2 saves. Gabriel Smollett pitched 78 innings with a 4.17 ERA and a 5-5 record with 8 saves. Joe Costello pitched 77 innings with 67 strikeouts with a 3-1 record and 4 saves. Lastly, mop-up guy Chris Holehouse pitched 63 innings with a 4.31 ERA and a 7-2 record.
Interview with the Owner: None Available
What Sets Them Apart: This Cardinals team was the pinnacle of gd's unique team building style. They had a ton of speed, outstanding defense, minimal power, and pitching designed to take advantage of the defense behind them. This team dominated it's way to the World Series where they went down 3-0 to the Toronto Blue Jays. After that they had one of the most legendary rallies in FCM history as they went on to win the next four games including a 3-2 win in 12 innings in Game 5. That stellar win was surrounded by three shutout efforts by Ben Ward, Aaron Pitman, and Travis McKegherty to get the team a much sought-after championship. The team sported several fringe hall of fame players and at least two (Davis and Pitman) that have already made it with a third quite likely to get in as well. (Moffat)
Coming Next: 2nd Best Team in FCM History: Ready for Primetime
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