BenFred's 5: Closing the notebook on the Cardinals' wild-card series

1. O'Neill's slide can't be ignored

Whatever happens this offseason, the Cardinals cannot head into 2021 insisting once again that Tyler O’Neill can be a starting outfielder for them. O’Neill played all of two innings in the wild-card series. He did not get one at-bat.

This was O’Neill’s third season with more than 130 major-league at-bats. His career on-base plus slugging percentage is .713. Check out how that OPS breaks down by season.

2018: 130 at-bats, .803 OPS

2019: 151 at-bats, .723 OPS

2020: 139 at-bats, .621 OPS

During that same span (2018-20) the National League average OPS for outfielders was .771.

2. Bader's postseason woes

You can argue that Harrison Bader is not a solid enough hitter to be a starter for the Cardinals moving forward, but you can’t argue that he did not take a step forward offensively this season. His .779 OPS was a career-high, and remarkably better than last season’s meager .680. Bader matched his 2018 OPS while adding some pop, slugging a career-high .443. Bader can be a No. 9 hitter in a lineup that can carry him if need be. The Cardinals don't have that kind of lineup at this time. They need to find one. Now, some bad Bader news. Bader, who suffered a five-strikeout game against the Padres, is now three-for-21 with 13 strikeouts and one walk in nine postseason games for the Cardinals. Ouch.

3. Bring back Yadi

Add this to the long list of reasons the Cardinals will need to work out a way to get Yadier Molina back for 2021. The veteran catcher was the club’s offensive catalyst in this wild-card series. He went 6-for-13 with two doubles and a walk. That’s a slash line of .462/.500 and .615. I like the offensive upside of catching prospect Andrew Knizner as much as anyone, but let’s not forget he got all of 16 at-bats in 2020 and played no minor league games. For reasons that never made sense, veteran backup Matt Wieters got more than twice as many at-bats (36) than Knizner. Bringing Molina back and packaging Knizner in a trade that can boost the offense – similar to the trade of Carson Kelly in the deal that landed Paul Goldschmidt – would make a lot of sense.

4. Hats off to Tingler

I underestimated Padres manager (and Mizzou guy) Jayce Tingler.

The rookie manager made a mistake in the regular season when he seemed to side with the Rangers, his old team, in the debate about a late and lopsided homer hit by Padres superstar Fernando Tatis Jr. It made me wonder how Tingler would hold up in the pressure of the postseason. He more than passed that test.

The plan Tingler and his staff put together on how to pitch the Cardinals in Game 3's bullpen parade was brilliant. The Cardinals insisted they knew what was coming, but they were helpless against it as Tingler pulled every right lever and pushed every right button during the nine-pitcher carousel of dominance. The Padres were impressive all season. Their resiliency – and approach -- after losing top two starters Dinelson Lamet and Mike Clevinger at the front end of the wild-card series was even more impressive. Tingler was a big part of that.

Meanwhile the Cardinals’ complete inability to get anything going against the Padres in the bullpen game everyone saw coming from a country mile away can be added to the list of minuses on the two-year body of work from Cardinals hitting coach Jeff Albert.

5. In a good spot

It’s a little thing, I know, but you have to love the location of rookie outfielder Dylan Carlson during the wild-card series. The Petco Park press box had a great view of the Cardinals’ dugout. There was Carlson, sitting right next to Paul Goldschmidt, picking his brain about hitting and approach. Great sign.