Written by Cordell Oberholtzer at Bloguin
On Tuesday night, the Cubs beat the Cardinals to win their first Postseason series since 2003 and their first series ever at home. While it was an exciting series with plenty of home runs and a lot of drama, the season is far from over for the team from the North Side of Chicago. When the season does end for the Cubs, it’s safe to say this run was not a fluke. The Cubs have the youth and talent to win for a long time, just as the Cardinals have done for the last decade. This raises an important question: is there a changing of the guard in the National League Central? Has the Reign of the Red Bird finally met it’s end?
While it’s easy to think of the Cubs because they are fresh in everyone’s minds, let’s not forget about the Pirates. This team has made the playoffs three years in a row and finished with the second-best record in baseball this season. With stars like Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez and solid sidekicks in Gregory Polanco and Starling Marte, the Pirates are far from returning to baseball obscurity. Age-wise, the Pirates currently average 28.2 years old which is about on par with the Cardinals (28.4), but with the exception of Sean Rodriguez, all of their everyday position players are under 30 years old. Ace Gerrit Cole is 24 years old and no members of their bullpen nucleus are above 30.
Furthermore, no one is going anywhere this offseason. Only A.J. Burnett, Aramis Ramirez, and Corey Hart are free agents come November and none of those three are realistically a major cogs in the wheel for the future. The Pirates have build a solid foundation of players. While there are been disappointments the last three years in October, the team is hungry and will continue to improve. The Jolly Roger is only rising higher.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, are in a different boat. While their average age is comparable to the Pirates, several of their big name players are creeping into their mid-thirties. Yadier Molina (32) is still as good as a catcher as there is, but unless your name is Carlton Fisk or Ivan Rodriguez, your career as a catcher rarely reaches age 40. Molina is an old 32 also – since breaking into the majors in 2004, he has played 1,436 games behind the plate (12,026 innings, second behind A.J. Pierzynski among active catchers) and has tacked on an additional 89 games in the Postseason. That’s a lot of miles.
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