NL East

Screwball Economics: As another season begins, MLB faces an unsustainable future, and you're picking up the tab

Previewing the Cardinals and Giants

On Friday night, the Cardinals managed one of the greatest (if not the greatest), comeback in postseason baseball history, erasing a six run deficit en route to defeating the Washington Nationals. It was the largest deficit any team has ever overcome in the playoffs, and in typical Cardinal comeback ... More >>

Cardinals at Nationals in Game 5: The Showdown

It all comes down to this. The Cardinals and the Washington Nationals are all knotted up at two games apiece in their National League Division Series matchup, with the deciding game to be played tonight. The Redbirds played one game for all the marbles a week ago, when they took on the Atlanta Brave ... More >>

DC Flag Could Fly Over St. Louis City Hall; Mayors Bet on NLDS

See this flag? It could be flying over St. Louis city hall next week should the Nationals beat the Cardinals in the National League Division Series. See also: AB-InBev Outraged Over World Series Bet Excluding Budweiser

Is Jaime Garcia's Problem With His Shoulder or His Head?

The Cardinals did what they needed to do in game two of their NLDS series against the Washington Nationals, beating up on the Nats' pitching staff to the tune of twelve runs and evening the series at one game apiece. Unfortunately, the victory didn't come easily, and things can't just be simple for ... More >>

Can Cardinals Rebound in Game 2 of NLDS?

After the Cardinals beat the Braves in the first-ever Wild Card slash play-in game, I kind of thought things might be falling into place for this team. Don't get me wrong; the Braves lost that game more than the Redbirds won it, going all 2006 Detroit Tigers and throwing away their chance to win lik ... More >>

Game Preview: Cardinals at Braves, 5th October 2012

The Cardinals and Braves will play in the first-ever single game Wild Card playoff this afternoon, with the season for each hanging in the balance. It's a strange situation for a baseball team, to be in a one game do or die showdown. Baseball is a game played in series, all year long. One game is ju ... More >>

Cards Finish Off Sweep of Astros; Gain Real Breathing Room

It may not have been the prettiest game any of us have ever seen -- or the prettiest the Cardinals have played -- but it got the job done. The Cards finished off a three game sweep of the Houston Astros yesterday at Busch Stadium behind a shaky-but-effective Jaime Garcia pitching performance an ... More >>

Another Letdown for The Cards

The Cardinals really needed a win this weekend. Not a win in a game; a win in a series. They needed to take care of their business against a Philadelphia Phillies team that has struggled badly this season, from a variety of standpoints. The Cardinals needed to, in short, play like a team fighting fo ... More >>

Cards Split With the Giants; Adam Wainwright Does a Thing

Thank god for Adam Wainwright. I've said it before over the past four or five seasons, but I think it bears repeating now and again. Thank god for Adam Wainwright. It's been a great ride, watching Wainwright progress from hyped prospect (acquired in return for J.D. Drew way back in the 200 ... More >>

Midseason Reviews for Preseason MLB Team Predictions, In Which I Eat Lots of Crow

Hey, you guys remember way back when, before the season really got going, and I made a whole bunch of predictions? Sure you do. I predicted MVP winners and Cy Young winners and a bunch of other stuff like that. I predicted stuff for teams, too; stuff like division standings and won/loss records. It ... More >>

Trade Target Talkin': How Much for that Pitcher in the Window?

Chris Carpenter is done for the season. The man be gone, and the man ain't be comin' back. Not in 2012 for sure, and maybe not never no more. Given this grammatically poor but factually accurate state of affairs, the Cardinals' pitching situation looks...well, it looks pretty ugly, to tell you ... More >>

New Yorkers All Pissy Over P-D's No-Hitter Asterisk; St. Louisans Bask in Attention

Johan Santana pitched a no-hitter for the New York Mets last Friday, the first in the franchise's history. Perhaps you heard the rumblings of rejoicing and self-satisfaction rolling out of New York over the weekend? It's OK if you didn't -- the losing team was the Cardinals, after all, and, as the ... More >>

Should We Be Worried About Cardinals' 0-4 Slump?

The Cardinals are mired in their first real slump of the season. That's not to say the Cards haven't faced any adversity before now, of course; there have been a couple of really tough losses already in 2012, and they have seemed to come in bunches, little clusters of misery amidst what has bee ... More >>

The Cards Open the Season in Style

The Cardinals opened the 2012 season last night, playing -- and winning -- the first official game in the Miami Marlins' brand new ballpark. It was a night of firsts, really. It was the first win for manager Mike Matheny. The first hit for Carlos Beltran in a Cardinal uniform. The first time a ... More >>

Team-by-Team Preseason Predictions: The Cardinals Are Good, But Not Good Enough

Yesterday I gave my predictions for individual award in the upcoming season. Today we turn our attention to larger matters. Team matters. This season actually promises an entirely new level of intrigue, due to the presence of an extra wild card team from each league. Whether you like the new de ... More >>

The Best -- And Worst -- Of Baseball Broadcasting

​The noted sabermetric site Fangraphs recently did something a little unusual for such a hardcore stat-oriented website. They ranked baseball's television broadcasting teams. And while I might have expected them to come up with a statistic or formula to express the quality -- or lack thereof -- of ... More >>

Marlins Make Their Move for Albert

Albert Pujols has said before it's not all about the money. If he's seriously considering going to Miami next season, it's pretty clear it's not all about the fashion for him, either. ​Albert Pujols was in Miami yesterday, meeting with the Florida/Miami/Dade County Marlins. The newly christened Mi ... More >>

Three Things to Be Happy About From Game One (Well, Besides Winning)

What? No, I haven't seen this movie. But, you know, it's called Happiness. I'm sure it's an uplifting, inspirational kind of story. Why are you looking at me like that? ​​Good time to be a Cardinal fan, right? I mean, the Redbirds just took care of business last night in game one of the World Se ... More >>

In Squirrel We Trust: Did Varmint Hex Phillies Pitcher?

​David Freese would tell you that his 4 RBIs last night on the way to the Cardinals' 5-3 victory over the Phillies in Game 4 of the NLDS came by way of hard work and some technological assistance. After striking out in the 2nd inning, Freese went to the Cardinals clubhouse to watch video of his at ... More >>

Pujols' Gutsy Defense Key To Cardinals Victory

​Albert Pujols has had plenty of game-changing moments on the baseball field. He's hit home runs in the biggest situations, as Brad Lidge can readily attest. He's come through time and time again when the Cardinals have needed a spark. You can debate all day long whether he'll be worth the contrac ... More >>

Who'dda Thunk? Cardinals Bullpen Saves the Day

commons.wikimedia.orgFernando Salas was just the first in a parade of lifesavers last night for the Redbirds, but may very well have been the most important.​The Cardinals -- and their oft-maligned bullpen -- did the impossible last night. They beat Cliff Lee in the playoffs. It clearly wasn' ... More >>

Win Tickets To Tomorrow's Cardinals Game!

Ah! Prairie chickens/We will make our readers cluck/Anything for seatsEarl Richardson​Feel like watching the Cardinals take on the Washington Nationals tomorrow? We've got two free tickets, and they are (drumroll) field boxes!Normally, we'd try to scalp these babies for upwards of $100, but, being ... More >>

The Opening Day Crystal Ball: 2011 MLB Predictions

I actually dressed up like this to write this post. I predict the itching of this beard will soon drive me to madness. ​Just a bare handful of hours, now, until the Cardinals' 2011 season gets underway. Plenty of ink and bytes have been spilled talking about what the season may bring, lots of it r ... More >>

Reminder: First Cardinals' Broadcast of Spring Training Today at Noon

Mike Shannon: "Heh, heh. Wow. Get up, baby!"​Yesterday was the start of the Grapefruit League season for the Cardinals. The club lost 6-3 to the Florida Marlins. The good news: Redbird newcomer Lance Berkman looked strong, going  2 for 2 with a home run. Pitcher Raul Valdes, starting for Adam ... More >>

Reason to Rejoice: Cardinals' Pre-Season Begins Today

Crocus Cardinals = Spring around the corner.​With temperatures plunging back into the 30s today we here at Daily RFT were desperate for some kind of sign that this miserable winter will one day end. We think we've found it. Just as the first crocus blooms suggest the thawing of the spring, so too ... More >>

Cliff Lee: The Sound of a Paradigm Shifting Without a Clutch

commons.wikimedia.orgLee in his first go-round as a Phillie. ​In what can only be described as a rather surprising move, Cliff Lee, aka the "Best Left-Handed Pitcher in Baseball At the Moment," spurned the Yankees' big dollars, as well as those of the Texas Rangers, in order to return to the Phila ... More >>

What Is Wrong with This Picture? Special World Series Edition!

Let's just say you don't turn to FOX -- or to Joe Buck, who recited this graphic word for word last night -- for the facts. ​

A Not-So-Fond Farewell to Felipe

​I thought Felipe Lopez was a great signing. I really did. So did pretty much everyone else. Hell, I still say he was a great signing, a chance to get a legitimate plus bat at the utility position for a mere $1 million. In a landscape where middling players command multi-year deals all over the pl ... More >>

Take That Quarter Pounder with Cheese with a Side of Statin.

The daily Quarter Pounder with Cheese and milkshake got your cholesterol out of whack? U.S. News and World Reports has a great idea, courtesy of a study in the American Journal of Cardiology: serve statins with fast food. The drugs counteract the cholesterol bomb of such meals and costs about the sa ... More >>

Cardinal Trade Targets From the Department of Dumb Ideas

A bad idea, but way more fun than these others. ​Okay, so I know things aren't great around here in Cardinal country just right now. The team is scuffling, the injuries are piling up, and we're all still a little peeved over Ryan Ludwick being traded. And I also know, given the time of year, that ... More >>

Five Keys to the Cardinals' Second Half

Hey, it's a key, it works. (Also a forgotten classic of power pop you should totally pick up if you ever see it like at a yard sale or something.) ​The second "half" of the baseball season kicks off for the Cardinals tonight (and I put "half" in quotes because technically we passed the halfw ... More >>

Cards Sign Reliever Mike MacDougal

commons.wikimedia.org​The Cardinals, in a bid to try and add some depth to a suddenly creaky bullpen, have signed former closer Mike MacDougal to a minor-league contract after he was released earlier this season by the Washington Nationals. He was pitching for the Nationals' Triple A club, and had ... More >>

Five Reasons The Cardinals Should Trade for Cliff Lee*

Image sourceWouldn't Cliff Lee look nice in Cardinal red?​In case you haven't been paying attention these past three games, the Mariners stink.It's a special kind of stink too. They run into outs on the bases, commit costly errors, blow saves and generally suck at hitting. Just think of an ugly wa ... More >>

Video: Toddler Caught Drinking Beer at Phillies Game -- or Was He?

Have you heard yet about the three or four-year-old boy caught drinking a beer at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park? Well, DailyRFT has come across the video of the incident. So waddya think?

2010 MLB Draft: A Mock Draft You Can Set Your Watch To

It's Christmas in June! ​Finally, Draft Day is here, and I'm as giddy as a small child the day before Christmas, shaking all the packages and trying to figure out what might be in that really big one with my name on it. Unfortunately, no amount of shaking or clever examination of the boxes is goin ... More >>

Ryan Howard Bobblehead: Is It a Gnome or a Lawn Jockey?

Philadelphia Inquirer via Deadspin​Earlier this year the Philadelphia Phillies awarded St. Louis native Ryan Howard with one of the most lucrative contracts in the game -- 5 years, $125 million. Unable to top that, the Phillies' AA affiliate in Reading, Pennsylvania, recently honored Howard with t ... More >>

Keith Hernandez Asleep in the Broadcast Booth During Mets Game (Video)

Hernandez as a bright-eyed, bushy-'stached Cardinal.​Check this video of former Cardinals great Keith Hernandez (1979-1983), now a broadcaster for the New York Mets, caught sleeping on camera during an extra-inning affair in New York when the San Francisco Giants were in town on Saturday night ... More >>

The Philadelphia Story: A Progress Report One Month In

​It was supposed to be the Cardinals' measuring stick for the young season, this trip to Philadelphia. Up until now the Cards had looked like the 700-pound red gorilla of old, stomping on opponents left and right and running up a big lead over the rest of a mediocre division. Going to Philly, thou ... More >>

The Great Taser Debate Rages On With Another Running of the Phans at Citizens Bank Park

So much for tasering fans presenting an effective deterrent, eh? For the second night in a row, a fan ran onto the field at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Ballpark while the Cardinals and Phillies were playing, this time in the ninth inning of a game the Phillies eventually won in 10 innings, 2-1 ... More >>

Video: Phillies Fan Gets Tasered During Cardinals At-Bat

Oh, it's never a dull moment at Citizens Bank Park. Whether they're vomiting on each other, shooting laser lights in the eyes of players, or beating each other to death, Phillies fans know how to keep it classy.So was anyone really surprised last night when a 17-year-old jumped onto the field and Ph ... More >>

The Ryan Howard Contract and What it Means to You

commons.wikimedia.org"How much did you get? Wow, that's a lot of money, mang. So that means I should be worth like a billion dollars, right?" ​Ryan Howard, St. Louis native and current-hated first baseman for the always-hated Philadelphia Phillies, just signed himself a capital 'E' Enormous contra ... More >>

Phillies' Ryan Howard Isn't Coming to St. Louis Anytime Soon -- Signs $125 Million Contract

Image SourceA photo of Ryan Howard where he isn't playing baseball.​Today, Philadelphia Phillies management cemented its commitment to first-baseman (and St. Louis area native) Ryan Howard with a $125 million, five-year contract, with a bonus structure that could result in the slugger earning $1 ... More >>

Video: See the Phillie Phanatic Do a Terrifying Lady Gaga Impression

Call it the difference between the American and National league, perhaps? Seattle tapped Death Cab for Cutie for its opening day entertainment. But in Philadelphia? Well, in Philadelphia, they do things differently there. Here's video of the Phillie Phanatic dancing to Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" whil ... More >>

Stay Classy Phillies Fans, Keep Vomiting On One Another

Clemmens: Another black eye for Philadelphia sports fans.​Last summer Daily RFT got into a couple online battles with the readers of a Philadelphia sports blog thefightins.com over the actions of Phillies fans at Citizens Bank Park. In one incident, someone in the stands flashed a laser pointer in ... More >>

MP3: Gotta Be Karim (Still) Rocks a Cardinals Hat on New Tune "Hello St. Louis"

Gotta Be Karim in a controversial fitted cap.​The Mariners are my team. I grew up watching Ken Griffey Jr crash into walls at the Kingdome, I imitate Ichiro's batting stance at Tower Tee and, as much as it pains me to say it during the Cardinals' opening homestand, Seattle's Safeco Field is far an ... More >>

The Novice Foodie's First (!) Cheesesteak

Kelli Best-Oliver​I don't really care about the World Series. Unless the Redbirds are playing, I see it as nothing more than an excuse for my husband to monopolize the television and Fox to preempt Glee. Blasphemous. This year is no exception as, to me, neither team has a compelling narrative. T ... More >>

Bird vs. Fish

Being Darryl Strawberry

Baseball's bad boy is now doing the Lord's work in O'Fallon, Missouri. How long will that last?

Schlafly Pumpkin Ale

Schlafly Brewery and Tap Room, 2100 Locust Street, 314-241-2337.