The St. Louis Cardinals could benefit if baseball crams 162 games into 4 1/2 months

A jam-packed schedule may give the St. Louis Cardinals a get out of jail free card when it comes to their oddly-constructed, redundant roster.

When spring training was suspended last week, it was expected that opening day might be pushed back a couple of weeks. Suddenly, it seems like it’s going to be more like six more weeks. Reports Sunday indicated that Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association expect that the upcoming season might not start to at least Memorial Day weekend, which is a month-and-a-half away.

While they haven’t explained how they’re going to make it happen, owners say they haven’t yet given up on the idea of playing a full season of 162 games. That means few — if any — days off and the potential of playing a lot of double headers. It would take at least a twin bill a week in order to fit six months of baseball into four-and-a-half months of dates.

Whenever baseball comes back, it seems like the circumstances will play right into the Cardinals’ hands. It’s a bit of luck for the that the season stands to be concentrated when the games resume. The Cardinals’ roster lacks game-changing talent at the top end, after team architect John Mozeliak passed on finding a replacement for Marcell Ozuna. But what this team does have is a lot of mid-grade talent that, frankly, seemed to be redundant.

Without the extenuating circumstances of an impossible to predict international pandemic, it would seem like there wasn’t enough playing time to go around. There were tough roster decisions to be made. Now it seems obvious that these guys are going to need breaks and the Cardinals might be uniquely able to provide time off to keep guys from getting burned out and to heal from injuries that inevitably will pop up along the way.

No other team has depth like the Cardinals

Simply put, no other team in the National League Central can compare with St. Louis when it comes to pitching depth. The Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds might be able to stack up with the Cardinals when it comes to the first two or three spots in their rotation. But no one can match them when it comes to the sixth and seventh spots in the rotation. You can’t go with a five-man rotation when teams are playing so many extra games, and that’s even if none of your starters get hurt. But the Cardinals can roll with Jack Flaherty, Miles Mikolas, Dakota Hudson, Carlos Martinez, Adam Wainwright, Kwang-Hyun Kim, Daniel Ponce de Leon and Austin Gomber if need be. The Cardinals basically have the horses to operate of 15 or 16 member pitching staff will players swinging back and forth between the rotation and bullpen and between the major leagues and the minors.

The Cardinals also have an advantage on the other side of the baseball with Tommy Edman and Brad Miller on the roster. Both of those guys are players who can fit anywhere in the batting order and field several defensive spots capably. That means St. Louis doesn’t have to run its starters into the ground, playing them every day without a break. Both Edman and Miller can play the outfield corners and all over the infield, so first baseman Paul Goldschmidt can get plenty of rest and Matt Carpenter can take a break against tough lefty pitchers. That’s a tremendous benefit to players well into their thirties.

I’ve had my doubts about this team being able to fend off the Cubs and the Reds over the course of six long months. But with a steady stream of players in the minor leagues who can jump up to the big league level and pitch in, the Cardinals might be ideally prepared for a more intense than expected campaign.

Scott Wuerz

Belleville News-Democrat

Scott Wuerz has written “Cheap Seats,” a St. Louis Cardinals fan blog for the Belleville News-Democrat, since 2007. He is a former BND reporter who covered breaking news and education.