St. Louis Cardinals hope trip to London helps serve as springboard out of last place

An admittedly casual and anecdotal tally of fans on the streets of London spotted in the last few days gives the Cubs a decided advantage in local support over the Cardinals — though both are significantly trailing the Yankees.

The Mets, Padres and Orioles have also seen some representation, though no one in Trafalgar Square on Thursday afternoon seemed particularly interested in the construction project transforming one of the city’s busiest areas into Major League Baseball’s own staging area.

Ready or not, baseball is coming.

The Cardinals arrived in London early Thursday after dropping their series finale in Washington, terminating a four-game winning streak and undercutting an opportunity for both their longest win streak of the season and their only sweep against a National League opponent so far in 2023.

The two games at London Stadium — which count as home games for the Cardinals — represent a chance to begin again and continue what will have to be an at least somewhat rapid rise from the basement of the NL Central.

St. Louis trails the third-place Cubs by five and a half games and, before play begins Thursday, are nine games back of the surging Reds for first place in the division. With less than six weeks to go until the trade deadline and decisions which could tip the year’s direction coming up soon, the games in London are, for the Cardinals, less a spectacle and more an absolute necessity wrapped around some very challenging travel.

Most of MLB’s so-called jewel events are a larger diversion from the norm than appreciated. For better or worse, the everyday nature of baseball means that players develop routines that can be necessary for comfort and mental preparation. Deviation from those routines in the middle of the season for extensive travel and a variety of extracurricular events can be a difficult challenge to overcome, even when it represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

That’s in addition to playing in an unfamiliar and newly converted park that’s certain to play small and fast despite MLB’s efforts to curtail the unrepresentative offensive explosion of the 2019 version of this series. Whether those efforts make sense in the context of the larger stated goal to grow the game internationally is fair to debate; a VR-enhanced quasi-home run derby, after all, is set to be the jewel event of the Trafalgar Square kickoff.

Pitching match-ups, the offense

Given that the pitch clock should prevent both games from again going past four and a half hours, for the Cardinals’ sake, maintaining the offensive environment would certainly be preferable. Adam Wainwright and Jack Flaherty are set to oppose Justin Steele and Marcus Stroman; both pitching matchups fairly strongly favor the Cubs, and the Cardinals would seemingly be better off simply trying to out-slug the northsiders.

Wainwright’s last start — in New York — marked his first quality start of the season and the first time he pitched into the seventh inning in 2023. He recorded his 198th career win, and with a victory Saturday, would set himself up for his milestone 200th victory during the upcoming home series against the Yankees. The Yankees are one of only three teams (Baltimore, Texas) against whom he’s yet to record a win in his illustrious career.

In five starts between May 15 and June 7, Flaherty allowed a total of five earned runs. He’s allowed six in each of his two starts since. His most recent, Monday in Washington, had the potential to careen wildly off the rails, as he staked the Nationals to a 5-0 lead after two innings. He would buckle down from there and allow only one additional run in 6 2/3 innings, providing respite to the bullpen and seemingly figuring out some of what’s plagued him during those two tough outings.

Offensively, though, things are beginning to move. Nolan Gorman remains mired in an abyss of strikeouts, but his production has been largely replaced by a resurgent Jordan Walker, riding a 13-game hitting streak. Since being recalled on June 2, Walker has added 30 points to his batting average and 130 to his OPS, posting an outrageous .339/.418/.593 line this month with four homers.

The defense? As well as he’s hitting, it’s mostly not worth asking.

Contreras, pitching

Willson Contreras is also showing signs of breaking his slumber, tallying six hits — including two homers and a double — during the road trip to the east coast. If Contreras comes around into the hitter he’s paid to be and Walker continues to shove his way back into the Rookie of the Year conversation, an offense that’s been uneven at best might suddenly again start to look like the offense of a contender.

From there, the Cardinals need their pitching only to compete to its expected level, rather than exceed it. That may be a lot to ask, and at this point in the season, it might be too late to matter. The disruption that comes from a jump across the pond could ripple through series against the Astros and Yankees even if this weekend goes well, rendering it all for naught.

For now, the celebration is on, even as the Cardinals are forced to get down to work. Some will find time to cross off important items on their sightseeing lists, but for some, it’s sure to be just another road trip.

At least here, they should be able to get dinner without risk of being recognized.