Over the past few decades, the Cardinals have taken great pride in seeing their home-grown players prosper.
So the organization must be pleased to see the scrappy and versatile Tommy Edman become the MVP of the National League Championship Series. He has long ranked among the prototypical Cardinals harvested from the productive farm system.
Unfortunately, his success 鈥 and the success of pitcher Jack Flaherty, another key home-grown player for the Cardinals 鈥 has come with the powerful Los Angeles Dodgers as they roll on to the World Series.
Edman has done it all for the Dodgers in the postseason. He started out as their center fielder, then moved to shortstop due to Miguel Rojas鈥 injury.
He was the No. 9 hitter in the powerful Dodgers lineup, but he kept driving in runs. So there Edman was in the cleanup spot in Game 6 of the NLCS as the Dodgers sent the New York Mets packing.
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Edman channeled his inner Randy Arozarena while posting a .407/.393/.630 slash line with one home run, three doubles, a stolen base and 11 RBIs.
This was quite a reversal of fortune for Edman, who missed nearly a full season of play with a wrist injury that ended his run with the Cardinals.
鈥淓arly in the year, I never thought I would be in this situation today,鈥 Edman told reporters. 鈥淓verything lined up for me to be on this team and have the success that we鈥檝e had. Now we鈥檙e going to the World Series. It鈥檚 crazy.鈥
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts happily agreed with that assessment.
鈥淚t's a crazy trajectory,鈥 Roberts said. 鈥淚 can't say enough about the front office being able to acquire him at the deadline. What he can do for us on the field, in the clubhouse, it's just amazing.
鈥淚 never imagined once we acquired him, he'd be hitting fourth in a postseason game. But I trust him. The guys trust him. He's made huge defensive plays for us and had huge hits. We鈥檙e just very fortunate to have a player like Tommy.鈥
Edman鈥檚 postseason heroics will give Cardinals fans another reason to watch the World Series while their franchise prepares to slash payroll and start over again.
Here is what folks have been writing about the playoffs:
Jesse Rogers, : “In the end, it didn't matter who the Dodgers put on the mound -- they had more than enough offense to overcome any pitching obstacles on the way to another World Series appearance. Newcomers Shohei Ohtani and Tommy Edman (a midseason addition) led the way, combining for five RBIs and four hits in the decisive Game 6 win. The Dodgers scored at least seven runs in all of their victories in the series -- and six more in one of their two losses. Waves of offense came at the Mets, taking down their top starters as Sean Manaea had his worst outing of the postseason Sunday. Same goes for Luis Severino and Jose Quintana, both of whom pitched earlier in the series. The onslaught ended a magical run by the Mets, who now have major free agent decisions to make -- starting with first baseman Pete Alonso and ending with the three aforementioned pitchers. They fought valiantly, but in the end this was about the Dodgers, not the Mets. The former team was just too much for New York at the plate.”
Mike Vaccaro, New York Post: 鈥淭he Brewers were better than the Mets across 162 games, but the Mets were able to solve that thanks to one forever swing of Pete Alonso鈥檚 bat, and so they advanced out of the National League play-in series.聽 The Phillies were better than the Mets across 162 games, but the Mets were able to solve that because at some point across the four games and five days of the NLDS, just about everyone stepped up to be counted, and then Francisco Lindor hit a grand slam to serve as a forever bookend to the home run he鈥檇 hit to beat the Braves in Game 161.聽 There was a lot of talk about 鈥榤agic/ as the Mets kept grinding deeper and deeper into October, and those of us with laptops and microphones were among the loudest sonneteers of that storyline. But in its way, reducing what we saw starting on Sept. 30 to the misty mire of mysticism did the Mets a disservice. They were, after all, the best team in baseball from June 1 on. That鈥檚 real. That鈥檚 legit.聽But sometimes, legit runs into legit.聽And so the Mets ran into the Dodgers. The Mets鈥 65-39 record after June 1 was the best in the big leagues but the Dodgers鈥 was fifth, at 61-41, and the Dodgers had the benefit of already being 37-23 by then.鈥澛
Gabe Lacques, USA Today: 鈥淭hese New York Yankees smashed to pieces all that playoff randomness, all these notions that superstars on superteams aren鈥檛 any likelier to win than some nondescript upper middle class club that gets hot for a minute in October. The Yankees are back in the World Series, for the first time since 2009. And a club that鈥檚 truly larger than life has its big boys to thank. Soto, Judge and Giancarlo Stanton 聽aren鈥檛 simply sluggers, MVP-caliber producers or nine-figure earners (Soto to join them in that club very soon). They are a traveling road show, the 6-7 Stanton able to hit baseballs harder than any human on the planet, the 6-6 Judge somehow able to patrol center field in concert with pounding 58 home runs this season, an American League-record 62 two seasons ago. And then there is Soto, who feels like he鈥檚 been around the spotlight longer than all of them 鈥 yet will celebrate just his 26th聽birthday Friday, batting second and patrolling right field for the Yankees in Game 1 of the World Series.鈥
Tom Ley, The Defector: 鈥淭he playoffs tend to provide certain reminders about how postseason baseball works. The Yankees, in completing their 4-1 series win over the Cleveland Guardians to advance to the World Series, provided one about the importance of power. Hit 10 home runs in five games, as the Yankees did in this series, and you can overcome all manner of base-running errors, scuffed defensive work, and late-inning meltdowns. Just keep hitting the ball over the fence, and good things will happen for you. Here's another reminder: There is probably no hitter in baseball more terrifying to pitch to in a high-leverage situation than Juan Soto. The Yankees right fielder came to the plate in the top of the 10th inning, with the score tied 2-2, two men on base, and two outs. Soto was looking for a fastball from Hunter Gaddis, and he wasn't going to let the at-bat end until he got one. What must it feel like to pitch to a locked-in Juan Soto, who possesses not only all the confidence and power that makes for a great clutch hitter, but one of the games most discerning eyes. I imagine it feels like being asked to chop down a redwood with a hatchet.鈥
Tyler Kepner, The Athletic: 鈥淭he joy of watching聽Juan Soto聽is that he shows you how much he loves baseball. He knows precisely how to unleash his greatness, and though he鈥檚 eager to display it, he鈥檚 willing to wait. He won鈥檛 always succeed, because baseball doesn鈥檛 work that way. But he seems so determined to savor the pursuit. The batter鈥檚 box is Soto鈥檚 happy place, like a hunter鈥檚 favorite deer stand. Soto will set you in his sights and take as long as he needs. He鈥檒l bait you into showing your weakness. And as soon as you do, you鈥檙e finished.鈥
Davy Andrews, FanGraphs: 鈥淣ew York鈥檚 4-1 series victory belies a tight and thrilling series that featured multiple extra-inning games, riveting reversals, likely heroes, and extremely unlikely goats. For the third straight game, the Yankees and Guardians were tied during the ninth inning. For the聽second straight game, the Yankees scored the winning runs off Cleveland鈥檚 untouchable high-leverage relievers. The vaunted Guardians bullpen, asked to pitch 28 innings over five games, actually ran a slightly better ERA than New York鈥檚 relievers, but Cleveland simply needed more from them. As has so often been the case, the Guardians always looked to be a couple solid bats short.鈥
Buster Olney, : “On Saturday night, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt jabbed a finger in the direction of each member of his bullpen, one by one, summoning each of the four relievers most responsible for the Cleveland success this year. For what they did was remarkable and, at the end, unsustainable, with their extraordinary workload ending in a performance collapse . . . Emmanuel Clase is widely regarded as baseball's best reliever -- the best reliever on the planet, his manager called him, and by far the league's top reliever by WAR. Cade Smith is likely to get strong consideration for AL Rookie of the Year. Hunter Gaddis and Tim Herrin were exceptional. Together, the big four had 290 combined innings and a 1.49 ERA. And in the series against the Yankees, that group allowed 11 runs in 13 innings. Clase was charged with the loss in Game 4, and Gaddis surrendered Juan Soto 's game-winning three-run homer in Game 5. The relievers' credo is that they won't acknowledge weariness, and that they will take the ball if asked. The Guardians won the AL Central largely because they had the most effective relievers -- their bullpen ERA was more than half a run better than any other team's -- and with those four Cleveland pitchers ranking among the top 11 in appearances, Vogt kept handing them the ball, into October. Clase threw in seven of Cleveland's 10 playoff games, Gaddis in eight, and Herrin and Smith each appeared in nine. And performance cracks began to show.”
MEGAPHONE
鈥淭his is what Big G lives for. Not the accolades by any means; far from it. But the opportunity to get to the World Series and play for a championship. That's his biggest motivation.鈥
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, on slugger Giancarlo Stanton.