The 2017 series on team offense continues with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals finished third in the National League and fifth in the majors in 2016 with 4.81 runs scored per game.
I am using RotoChamp as a source of default lineups. That Mike Matheny order is plugged into the Lineup Analysis Tool (LAT) using Musings Marcels as the batter projections. For the pitchers, slot, I used the actual values for the Cardinals in 2016. That information produces the following results (Runs per game):
Best lineup: 5.33
Probable lineup: 5.21
Worst lineup: 5.02
Regressed lineup: 4.71
The 16th lineup in the list comes fairly close to the default order, with the same top three batters. The LAT likes Randal Grichuk rather than Stephen Piscotty fourth, as Grichuk produces more power. The Cardinals continue to try to move Matt Carpenter out of the lead-off slot, even though he thrives there.
This is a team that should score well, since the top four batters all are projected to post OBPs above .350. This should set up plenty of RBI opportunities for the lower half of the order if they just put the bat on the ball. I like lineups that bunch the best hitters together like this, as those four can soften the pitcher up for the hackers on the team. Expect the Cardinals to be near the top of the NL in runs scored again.
You can follow the data for the series in this Google spreadsheet.
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Previous posts in this series:
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2mnuoqD
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