KZRG SPORTS – A TALE OF TWO BASEBALL TEAMS
Professional baseball in the state of Missouri is the world of opposites right now. The Kansas City Royals and the St. Louis Cardinals could not be in more different situations as we reach approach the dog days of summer.
On one hand, you have the St. Louis Cardinals who are fighting for first place in the division with a roster littered with historic veterans and young stars. While the Kansas City Royals have a roster stacked full of underperforming names, young and old. This is not just a one-year fluke for these two franchises, as recent history would suggest it is quite the opposite. The two teams have had experienced consistent fates over the last few years. The Royals being a team fighting to finish with a winning record, meanwhile the Cardinals are fighting to win yet another division title.
St. Louis is attempting to turn a farewell tour season into a proper sendoff for some of the franchise’s biggest names. This Spring, the team brought back Albert Pujols and paired him back up with his old running mates, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright. The three are all expected to retire within the next few seasons, if not at the conclusion of the 2022 campaign. St. Louis also boasts some other big names such as Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt who are complimented well with some young talent such as Harrison Bader, Tyler O’Neil and Andre Pallante.
Kansas City, on the other hand, is attempting to turn around the club’s recent woes but have yet to see the success envisioned for this season. Sluggers Salvador Perez and Whit Merrifield have struggled to repeat last year’s success. Andrew Benintendi has raised his batting average yet has struggled to replicate his run production from last year. Despite this, all hope is not lost for the Royals future. Highly touted Bobby Witt Jr. has shown signs of tremendous talent, backing up the hype he has received since being drafted second overall in 2019. There are high hopes for him to be the leader in the next era of Royals baseball.
Kansas City looks to finish out their road trip to the west coast strong as the take on the Los Angeles Angels beginning Monday, June 20th. Both teams have struggled this year and look to turn it around starting with this series.
St. Louis starts a midseason high-stakes series with division co-leaders, the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night as well. This series could potentially keep the teams locked tight together in the division lead or push one to the top and give them some comfort room to work with as we near the All-Star break.
Baseball is a crazy sport and miracles happen every year in the MLB, but unless something changes soon we appear to be headed towards yet another year where the Cardinals run the state of Missouri.
Written by Nathan Massey