00:00All right. The Cardinals are still hanging around. And, you know, I mean, despite trading players off and not really
00:06seemingly having a ton of interest in getting to the postseason, here they are. Main reasons are two. J.J.
00:12Weatherholt, the rookie, probably second in rookie of the year, I would say, behind Sal Stewart.
00:16And then the other reason is Jordan Walker, the home run champ, 27 home runs, 96 runs driven in. Look
00:24at this. OPS, 856 and a 289 batting average. A few weeks ago, Tom, everyone was out there saying, all
00:30right, the old Jordan Walker has come back. He's in a slump. That's it. And then all of a sudden
00:35he got fire again.
00:36So, you know, 30 home runs and 100 runs driven in as long as he's healthy in the month of
00:41September. That's an amazing season for Walker.
00:44It really is. And, you know, credit to the Cardinals hitting staff, right, where he had struggled for years. And
00:51we had joked about this in April or May when he got off.
00:54They were like, oh, he's been called up and down a million times. You know, they finally figured it out
00:57for him. And between him, Weatherholt, Burleson has put together a really nice season.
01:03Baez, who they just called up, like this is a team that can continue to produce. And I'm more interested
01:07in what they're going to do next year. Can they truly contend next year?
01:10Because they're four, four and a half out at this point in the wildcard. I don't think they make it.
01:14But next year, I think they will be truly in the wildcard mix right from the season jump. And I
01:19was wrong about the Cardinals this year.
01:21Yeah, and so was I. And look, they've gone far above the expectations at this point, even if they were
01:27to bomb in September. And I certainly don't see that.
01:30Yeah.
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