After Saturday night’s victory, the St. Louis Cardinals record stands at 45-47. This puts the team in fourth place in the NL Central, nine games behind the division leading Milwaukee Brewers. If St. Louis is going to improve on that record and made progress towards winning the division or earning a wild card spot, then some things must clearly improve from the first half of the season.
Leadoff production
To begin with, the Cardinals need better production from the leadoff spot. Neither Dylan Carlson nor Tommy Edman have done well enough in the spot.