JUPITER, Fla. — For all the rhetoric expended and hands wrung over the Cardinals’ lack of a veteran cleanup man to drive in runs, the issue of who might be scoring those runs sometimes is overlooked.
Somehow, the Cardinals reached baseball’s Final Four last year despite ranking 29th out of 30 teams in batting average for leadoff men — .216. They were 29th in on-base percentage (.308) and 30th in OPS (.663). The bitter-rival Chicago Cubs were right with the Cardinals, ranking 30th in the first two categories and 29th in OPS.
This generally is not conducive to winning baseball, so the Cardinals will have to build a better mousetrap this season, whoever they choose for the leadoff spot.