I think it was like 6 weeks into the one good season that Soler has ever had when Harper had the 2nd worst year of his career. And Harper's numbers equaled Soler's.

At any given time you could count on him to pump Hosmer or Soler's tires while arguing one or both were the equivalent of Harper. And his favorite thing to do was "Take out his MVP season..." as though a 22 year old having one of the most dominant offensive seasons in MLB history wasn't in some way predictive of future performance.

Or that removing 1 season of 5 isn't in some way putting your thumb on the scale.

The willful ignorance that it took for him to be as catastrophically wrong as possible was just hilarious.

Debating Nietzsche with a goldfish, man...

Cardinals schedule gets a bit easier for the next few series. I live in Chicago and will be going to at least two of the games over at Wrigley down the street. Any guesses to the over/under .500 for overall record at the end of June? I'll stick my neck out there and say two games over .500.

I'll say 1 under.

They're a team w/ roughly .500 talent. 85 wins if they stay healthy all season but they won't (and haven't).

And .500 teams tend to hover around .500. We regressed to the mean (progressed?) to get back to level, but that's just the law of large numbers at work.

They'll be within a game or two of .500 either way. And every time they win 4 of 5, they'll lose 5 of 7 and over the course of any 12-14 game stretch they'll be a roughly .500 ballclub.

That's why it just doesn't make sense to view any series at all as being meaningful. When it's all said and done, they'll be roughly .500. Because that's all they made any effort to be.

Getting swept by the astros seemed like such a Cardinals thing to do. Glad they pulled 1 win out after giving away game one of the series.

Jordan Walker's slash line is now .254/.299/.373 in 127 plate appearances with Triple-A Memphis.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Are the Cardinals really losing? <a href="https://t.co/1FmMrJL6tL">pic.twitter.com/1FmMrJL6tL</a></p>&mdash; Redbirdriot (@RedbirdRiot) <a href="https://twitter.com/RedbirdRiot/status/1798893605157044682?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Butters: Favorable stretch! Chance to make up ground!

Loses 2 of first 3 to an awful Colorado team...

Narrator: They did not in fact make up ground.

3-6 since their hot streak.

Again, law of large numbers. Every team, even bad ones, have 10-15 game stretches where they play good baseball. And it'll even out.

The sad truth is that these games against the Rockies have been some of the most nip and tuck baseball the Cardinals have played all season. These are REALLY closely matched ballclubs.

And the Rockies aren't trying to win. It's really all that needs to be said. I suspect the Cardinals will win today but c'mon - these games have been dogfights and if you're a competitive team, you simply shouldn't be scrapping with clubs like these.

Starting Skenes against these toothless ****s in fantasy was the easiest decision ever.

Maybe I don't pay that much attention to the overall MLB standings but is it like this every year where almost 2/3rds of the teams are under .500?

Or are we just moving closer to superteams ala the NBA and soon MLB will be even worse to watch?

I think MLB has been in the superteams status more so than any other league and will be the downfall of the league itself. There needs to be more salary parity like the NFL.

Will MLB be compelled to change? The problem is the randomness of the postseason tournament works. The 2023 Diamondbacks won the pennant. The New York Yankees haven't won it all since 2009 or been to the World Series since then. The mighty Los Angeles Dodgers only have one COVID-19 title to show for their decade-plus run.

But I understand the frustration though. Several franchises compete for a World Series in real, tight windows and then sell off their popular players.

The Yankees or Dodgers don't even have losing seasons. That's the issue more than anything. The 2023 Yankees missed the playoffs and now they're back at the top of the food chain.

I think your first sentence hits the nail on its head. Profits are growing so there is not reason to change. MLBPA will never go for the pay parity that the NFL has because that requires less guaranteed contracts. In the NFL, we are always talking about cutting players and are more focused on the salary cap. In the MLB, teams are tied to paying that salary no matter what.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">On June 20, tune in to FOX as <a href="https://twitter.com/MLB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MLB</a> heads to Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, the oldest ballpark in America for a celebration over 100 years in the making. <br><br>Featuring the <a href="https://twitter.com/SFGiants?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SFGiants</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/Cardinals?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Cardinals</a> in a “Tribute to the Negro Leagues.” <a href="https://t.co/kitpIN457O">pic.twitter.com/kitpIN457O</a></p>&mdash; FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) <a href="https://twitter.com/MLBONFOX/status/1800603912606785871?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

At Wrigley today. Even the Cubs fans feel sorry for us because of the idiotic moves Oli makes.