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St. Louis Cardinals Best Single Seasons

This is a list of the St. Louis Cardinals best single seasons. I decided to select two players for each infield position, six outfielders (regardless of specific position), and one designated hitter for each AL team. Hitters had to play at least 51% of games at their position. For pitching, we selected seven starting pitchers, three non-closers, and two closers. Starting pitchers had to start at least 20 games during the selected season. Relief pitchers were deemed non-closers if they saved less than 10 games. Closers are pitchers that save more than 10 games.


  • Catcher – Yadier Molina, 2012

  • Yadier Molina
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    138 .375 6.9 138 563 65 159 28 0 22 76 12 45 55 .315 .373 .501 .874

  • First Base – Mark McGwire, 1998

  • Mark McGwire
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    205 .492 7.5 155 681 130 152 21 0 70 147 1 162 155 .299 .470 .752 1.222

  • Second Base – Rogers Hornsby, 1924

  • Rogers Hornsby
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    221 .537 12.1 143 642 121 227 43 14 25 94 5 89 32 .424 .507 .696 1.203

  • Third Base – Scott Rolen, 2004

  • Scott Rolen
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    159 .422 9.2 142 593 109 157 32 4 34 124 4 72 92 .314 .409 .598 1.007

  • Shortstop – Dick Groat, 1963

  • Dick Groat
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    132 .367 7.1 158 704 85 201 43 11 6 73 3 56 58 .319 .377 .450 .827

  • Outfield – Stan Musial, 1948

  • Stan Musial
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    201 .512 11.1 155 698 135 230 46 18 39 131 7 79 34 .376 .450 .702 1.152

  • Outfield – Albert Pujols, 2003

  • Albert Pujols
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    184 .461 8.6 157 685 137 212 51 1 43 124 5 79 65 .359 .439 .667 1.106

  • Outfield – Joe Medwik, 1937

  • Joe Medwick
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    180 .467 8.5 156 677 111 237 56 10 31 154 4 41 50 .374 .414 .641 1.056

  • Starting Pitcher – Bob Gibson, 1968

  • Bob Gibson
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    38 11.2 34 34 22 9 1.12 304.2 28 13 0 49 38 62 268 7.9 0.853

  • Starting Pitcher – Mort Cooper, 1942

  • Mort Cooper
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    53 8.4 37 35 22 7 1.78 278.2 22 10 0 73 55 68 152 4.9 0.987

  • Starting Pitcher – John Tudor, 1985

  • John Tudor
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    55 8.1 36 36 21 8 1.93 275 14 10 0 68 59 49 169 5.5 0.938

  • Starting Pitcher – Harry Brecheen, 1948

  • Harry Brecheen
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    55 8.9 33 30 20 7 2.24 233.1 21 7 1 62 58 49 149 5.7 1.037

  • Starting Pitcher – Chris Carpenter, 2009

  • Chris Carpenter
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    55 6.5 28 28 17 4 2.24 192.2 3 1 0 49 48 38 144 6.7 1.007

  • Relief Pitcher – Kevin Siegrist, 2013

  • Kevin Siegrist
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    12 1.9 45 0 3 1 0.45 39.2 0 0 0 2 2 18 50 11.3 0.882

  • Relief Pitcher – Pat Neshek, 2014

  • Pat Neshek
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    52 2.3 71 0 7 2 1.87 67.1 0 0 6 14 14 9 68 9.1 0.787

  • Closer – Bruce Sutter, 1984

  • Bruce Sutter
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    43 4.6 71 0 5 7 1.54 122.2 0 0 45 26 21 23 77 5.6 1.076

Bench

2 Comments »

  1. Edgar Renteria’s numbers are superior to Dick Groat’s performance. Edgar hit .330 in 2003 with 47 dbls, 34 stolen bases, 13 HRs and 874 OPS. Why did you ignore him?

    Like

  2. C 1975 Ted Simmons, 2013 Yadier Molina
    1B 2003 Albert Pujols, 1939 Johnny Mize
    2B 1922 Rogers Hornsby, 1927 Frankie Frisch
    3B 1971 Joe Torre, 1961 Ken Boyer
    SS 1979 Garry Templeton, 1963 Dick Groat

    LF 1937 Ducky Medwick, 1887 Tip O’Neill, 2001 Jesse Burkett
    CF 1929 Taylor Douthit, 1985 Willie McGee
    RF 1948 Stan Musial, 1942 Enos Slaughter

    1968 Bob Gibson
    1942 Mort Cooper
    1914 Bill Doak
    1985 John Tudor
    2010 Adam Wainwright

    1984 Bruce Sutter
    1975 Al Hrbosky
    1968 Joe Hoerner
    2001 Steve Kline
    2002 Mike Crudale

    1885 Bob Caruthers
    1886 Dave Foutz
    1899 Cy Young
    1934 Dizzy Dean

    Like

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