The injury to Adam Wainwright’s elbow will officially require Tommy John surgery, ending his season and severely damaging the Cardinals’ chances at an NL Central division title.
Now that their season is over before it even began, the Cardinals are going to trade Chris Carpenter, their only remaining ace, and probably try to find a buyer for Albert Pujols, who is set to become a free agent at the end of the season.
They’ll probably sell the team, and baseball in St. Louis will be over.
“Big Mac Land” will become “The Whopper-ville” and pitching coach Dave Duncan will take a job with the U.S. military, developing soldiers who can literally throw their bullets at enemies.
I’m kidding, of course. None of those things are going to happen.
The St. Louis Cardinals still have a pretty darn good baseball team heading into the 2011 season.
Not having Wainwright hurts, but it doesn’t signal the end of the season and there’s no reason to pack it in.
Here are five reasons the Cardinals can still contend in the NL Central in 2011.