St. Louis Cardinals' Biggest Strength So Far In 2016

The St. Louis Cardinals have gotten off to an interesting start in 2016. Usually bolstered by starting pitching and an elite bullpen, the Cardinals have been leaning on their offense so far this season. In fact, their offense has been their biggest strength so far by a large margin.

The Cardinals lead the National League in runs scored, doubles, RBI, slugging and OPS. That is quite a list of offensive leadership. They are also second in home runs, third in hits, fourth in triples and OBP, and fifth in walks and average. The Cardinals basically own the offensive leadership in the National League.

This hasn’t come by accident. The Cardinals have some individual leaders on their team as well. Stephen Piscotty is second in the league in runs scored, one behind Nolan Arenado. There are two more Cardinals in the top 10 as well. One of those two is shortstop Aledmys Diaz, who is second to Gregory Polanco for doubles in the league and fifth in slugging behind Yoenis Cespedes. Diaz is also sixth behind Cespedes in OPS. Leadoff man Matt Carpenter is only three RBI off of the league-leading pace set by Cespedes and four off of the home run pace set by Arenado.

So their no-name outfielder and replacement shortstop are coming through in ways not anticipated. This is often the Cardinal way, but this is taken to a whole new level. Their big guns, Matt Holliday and Matt Adams, aren’t doing much so far this year.

Usually, the Cardinals compete by defense and pitching. This year, their hitting is more than timely, it’s explosive. If they can keep this offense up, their biggest strength will carry them to yet another postseason appearance.