New Type of Anticipation for Cardinals in 2012

While it may seem like just weeks ago that the St. Louis Cardinals pulled off a World Series Championship for the ages, the reality is that the 2012 season is knocking at the door. St. Louis is ready. The players are ready, as evidenced by those who have decided to show up early to begin training. For fans, this off-season has been nothing short of a whirlwind and has brought a new type of anticipation for the 2012 season. Not to say that Cardinals fans aren’t stoked every year and busting at the seams for the season to finally start once Spring Training rolls around, but few would argue that this year is different.

First, Dave Duncan is gone. For most teams, the loss of the pitching coach would be just a passing thought. For Cardinals fans, this is the man who in their mind is just as responsible for two World Series victories as anyone else in the organization. This is the man that made Kyle Lohse look like a $10 million a year pitcher. The man who made Jeff Weaver a World Series hero. For crying out loud, Duncan made Kent Bottenfield an All-Star. Kent Bottenfield! That is no small feat and Dave Duncan will be missed.

A few short days after the World Series victory and still in the midst of the celebration in St. Louis, long-time manager Tony LaRussa announced that he would not be returning to manage to Cardinals for the 2012 season. Many fans, yours truly included, spent sixteen years being frustrated by the methodical and obsessive-compulsive way LaRussa managed the Cardinals. From the late-inning fielding substitutions to the frequent pitching changes while playing the match-ups, Tony drove us all crazy at times. Love him or tolerate him, though, you can’t argue with the winning that Tony brought to the Cardinals organization. Fans will definitely notice the change in the feel of the game with the loss of Tony LaRussa.

There is one remaining Cardinal fixture that is gone for this year: Arthur Rhodes. No wait, that’s not it. Albert. Of course it’s Albert. Albert is gone and a nation of Cardinals fans has felt for months like a boyfriend in high school whose long-time sweetheart has just left him for that college guy with all the mystique and excitement and shiny newness (read: money). The new guy doesn’t love you like we do. He never will. But either way, Albert is gone and the Cardinals fans will be looking for someone else this year to bring them joy. For the first time in over a decade, Number Five will not be swinging the bat while wearing the birds on the bat, and that feels, well, indescribable.

The combination of these three losses does not mean that the anticipation leading into the 2012 baseball season is somehow dampened for the Cardinals. Not by a long shot. If anything it means even more excitement as the Cardinals begin Spring Training. The feel is different. The core has changed. But the belief among most who follow the team is that the Cardinals have a very strong base this year and should be runaway favorites to win the National League Central this year and among the favorites to win the World Series. It will be exciting to see how the Cardinals do this season with the major renovations. They have a great chance at success. They also could fall flat on their faces. Either way, the start of this season has an unfamiliar feel to it and that alone is cause for heightened anxiety and anticipation.


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