Cardinals rumors: Paul Goldschmidt future, surprise spring invite, PECOTA projection
- PECOTA has high expectations for Cardinals in 2024
- Cardinals invite player they outrighted to Triple-A to spring training
- Paul Goldschmidt has to prove he's worth contract beyond 2024?
By Scott Rogust
Cardinals projected by PECOTA to win the NL Central in 2024
The 2023 season didn't go the way the St. Louis Cardinals had planned. With high hopes after 2022, the Cardinals didn't fall too far out of the playoff picture by the trade deadline. However, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak decided to sell at the deadline to replenish their farm system.
This offseason, the Cardinals wasted no time addressing their area of need -- starting pitching. St. Louis signed Sonny Gray, Kyle Gibson, and Lance Lynn to fill the three openings in the rotation. With that, the Cardinals are looking forward to contending for the NL Central, which looks to be wide-open.
With spring training just about to start, fans are giving their predictions as to how every team will do in the 2024 season. Just before every season, sabermetric system PECOTA unveils their projections for how each team will perform in terms of wins and losses.
In the 2024 projected standings, PECOTA predicts the Cardinals will finish in first place in the NL Central with 84.8 simulated wins. Not to mention, the Cardinals have a 62.2 percent chance of making the playoffs and a 48.6 percent chance of winning the division.
Here is what the NL Central standings look like from PECOTA's projections by simulated wins and simulated losses
- St. Louis Cardinals: 84.8-77.2
- Chicago Cubs: 80.8-81.2
- Milwaukee Brewers: 79.4-82.6
- Cincinnati Reds: 77.9-84.1
- Pittsburgh Pirates: 72.0-90.0
The team's batting order should be fine with Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Lars Nootbaar, and Jordan Walker leading the way. All that they will bank on is the starting rotation to lead the team to some wins.
Cardinals fans are probably feeling a bit hyped right now, but they know that these projections are just that, projections. They want to see the team prove that they are playoff-caliber on the field.