Phillies-Cardinals position-by-position breakdown

The last time the Cardinals and Phillies met in the postseason also happened to be the last time the Phillies played in a postseason game -- it was Game 5 of the 2011 National League Division Series, and it left us with the indelible images of Philadelphia slugger Ryan Howard writhing in pain along the first-base line after tearing his left Achilles tendon as right-hander Chris Carpenter and the Cards celebrated at Citizens Bank Park.

Eleven years later, the Phillies hope to do what the Cardinals did that October: win the World Series. Meanwhile, the Cards will look to repeat their 2011 feat, particularly since that was the last time St. Louis won it all. As the two storied franchises face off in the best-of-three NL Wild Card Series at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, with Game 1 scheduled for Friday at 2:07 p.m. ET on ABC -- 11 years to the day of Game 5 of the 2011 NLDS, here’s a look at how they match up, position by position:

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Catcher

J.T. Realmuto proved once again why he is considered the best all-around catcher in baseball with a tremendous 2022 campaign. His season began slowly at the plate, but Realmuto turned things around with a spectacular July, when he hit .358/.423/.642 with five homers. He produced a career-high 6.5 wins above replacement (FanGraphs) with his typical excellence behind the plate to go along with what he did offensively.

Realmuto’s backup, Garrett Stubbs, has been solid when he’s been in the lineup, hitting .264/.350/.462 in 121 plate appearances.

The Cardinals have the great Yadier Molina behind the plate in tandem with Andrew Knizner. Molina, in his final Major League season, isn’t much of a threat at the plate but is still savvy behind it, throwing out 39 percent of would-be base stealers this year (the MLB average was 24 percent). Knizner posted a .601 OPS in 293 plate appearances for St. Louis this season.

Edge: Phillies

First base

In any position-by-position breakdown, if you’ve got a leading MVP candidate on your roster, you probably have the advantage wherever he’s playing. That would be the case for first base here, where Paul Goldschmidt is coming off a career year and has been the NL MVP frontrunner for most of it. Despite slumping over the final few weeks of the regular season, Goldschmidt led the NL in slugging, OPS and OPS+ as he and third baseman Nolan Arenado fueled the Cards’ lineup from start to finish.

Goldschmidt’s counterpart with the Phillies is no slouch, either. Rhys Hoskins posted a .794 OPS with 30 homers for Philadelphia this season, but even those numbers take a back seat to Goldschmidt’s campaign.

Edge: Cardinals

Second base

Jean Segura has been one of the more underrated infielders in the game in recent years. He’s been a solid contributor year-in and year-out, and 2022 was no exception. The 32-year-old hit .277/.336/.387 with 10 homers and 13 steals in a season in which he was limited to 98 games due to injury.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, got good production at second base from an unexpected source. Rookie Brendan Donovan is a throwback at the plate and a proverbial Swiss Army knife in the field. He appeared at every position on the diamond save for pitcher, catcher and center field this season. But as the roster is currently constructed, he’ll likely be starting at second base in the postseason. In his first taste of the big leagues, Donovan hit .281/.394/.379, demonstrating a high-contact and low-strikeout approach to go along with a solid eye at the plate that resulted in a 12.8 percent walk rate.

Edge: Cardinals

Shortstop

When Paul Dejong couldn’t get things going at the plate this season, Tommy Edman was moved from second base to shortstop. It was a move the Cardinals could afford to make thanks to the strong rookie campaign authored by Donovan. Edman had a strong season of his own, hitting 13 homers and stealing 32 bases while playing excellent defense. He finished with 5.5 WAR per FanGraphs.

Veteran Didi Gregorius was the Phillies’ Opening Day shortstop, but after he struggled both at the plate and defensively, he was released and rookie Bryson Stott was installed as the starter at short. Stott got off to a slow start offensively, but steadily improved throughout the season. From July 10 through the end of the regular season, the 25-year-old posted a .759 OPS in 71 games.

Edge: Cardinals

Third base

Nolan Arenado put together a career season in 2022, and that’s saying a lot considering he entered the year with nine Gold Glove Awards and 269 homers in nine MLB seasons. In his second year with the Cardinals, Arenado posted a career-best 7.3 WAR (FanGraphs), hitting .293/.358/.533 with 30 home runs and a seemingly endless reel of highlights at the hot corner. He finished the season in the thick of the NL MVP race along with teammate Goldschmidt.

Alec Bohm had a solid campaign for Philadelphia, but his .714 OPS with 13 homers was a far cry from Arenado’s production. To be fair, most third basemen in the Majors didn’t come anywhere close to Arenado’s value in 2022.

Edge: Cardinals

Left field

Aaron Judge captivated us with his historic season, setting a new AL record with 62 home runs. But lest we forget, the NL had a home run leader in 2022, too. That was the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber, who smashed a career-high 46 homers, including 10 over the final month of the regular season. When the Phillies signed both Schwarber and Nick Castellanos to patrol the corner outfield spots, they went all in on the bats, even if it meant they’d sacrifice defense. In the case of Schwarber in left field, it worked.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, saw their starting left fielder derailed by a hamstring injury that will likely cause him to miss the Wild Card Series. Tyler O’Neill won back-to-back Gold Glove Awards in 2020 and ’21, and launched 34 homers with a .912 OPS last year. This season, he was inconsistent at the plate and injuries limited him to 96 games. In O’Neill’s place, St. Louis will likely go with veteran Corey Dickerson, who posted a .699 OPS with six homers in 297 regular-season plate appearances.

Edge: Phillies

Center Field

The Phillies traded for 24-year-old Brandon Marsh from the Angels to take over in center field after Odúbel Herrera and Matt Vierling didn’t get the job done at the plate. Marsh isn’t known for his bat, and his strikeout rate remains high, but he’s hit pretty well since joining Philadelphia and his defense has been an upgrade in center. Still, the Phillies are at a disadvantage at the position when compared to the Cards.

When Dylan Carlson turned in a pair of impressive months at the plate in June and July, a span over which he hit .302/.372/.512, the Cardinals felt comfortable trading center fielder Harrison Bader to the Yankees, turning the position over to Carlson. Carlson began slumping at the plate in July, and a left thumb sprain in August didn’t help matters.

The switch hitter has struggled against right-handed pitching, in particular, which may prompt manager Oliver Marmol to have Lars Nootbaar appear in center more often in the postseason. Nootbaar struggled early on this year and was optioned to Triple-A, returning when Carlson got hurt. During the second half of the season, Nootbaar posted an OPS over .800 with 10 homers.

Edge: Cardinals

Right Field

Nootbaar primarily played right field for the Cards during the regular season, and depending on what happens with Carlson in center, he may remain there -- Carlson has shown some improvement against righties lately. But despite his impressive stats in the late summer, Nootbaar doesn’t have the track record of his counterpart with the Phillies.

Nick Castellanos has had a disappointing first year with Philadelphia so far. He's struggled at the plate and was recently sidelined with an oblique injury. But he’s still Nick Castellanos, a guy who had an .853 OPS with 142 homers from 2016-21 for the Tigers, Cubs and Reds. Now that he’s back in the lineup, the Phils are hoping he’ll catch fire when it counts the most: October.

Edge: Phillies

Designated hitter

Albert Pujols thrilled us with an incredible -- and, quite frankly, unexpected -- power surge reminiscent of “the Machine” of yesteryear during the 2022 regular season. It resulted in his 700th career home run, and then three more for good measure, giving him 24 for the season. His .895 OPS was his highest since 2011, the last time he wore a Cardinals uniform before rejoining the club for one last hurrah.

Even with a magical year from the 42-year-old Pujols, the Phillies have the advantage at designated hitter thanks to a two-time NL MVP Award winner who might have made a run at a third if not for injury this year. Bryce Harper finished with an OPS of “only” .877 along with 18 homers in 99 games, missing two months of the season after suffering a broken left thumb when he was hit by a pitch in late June. But he’s still Bryce Harper, one of the most electrifying sluggers in the game.

Edge: Phillies

Starting pitching

The Cards got some great starting pitching during the regular season, particularly from the ageless wonder, Adam Wainwright, as well as Miles Mikolas and midseason acquisitions Jordan Montgomery and José Quintana. But with Wainwright dealing with a “dead arm” that led to a 7.22 ERA over his final six starts of the season, Montgomery having an up-and-down finish to the season after a spectacular start to his Cardinals tenure and Jack Flaherty’s postseason role uncertain a month after coming off the injured list, there are a lot of questions surrounding St. Louis’ rotation heading into the postseason.

For the Phillies, Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola comprise one of the best 1-2 rotation punches in baseball. Since returning from an IL stint due to right forearm tendinitis, Wheeler has yielded just one run over 15 innings, striking out 15 and walking only one. In two starts against the Cardinals this year, he’s thrown 14 shutout innings. Nola bounced back from an uncharacteristic season in 2021, posting a 3.25 ERA in 32 starts this year, including a gem in Philadelphia’s postseason clincher, when he took a perfect game into the seventh inning. In a best-of-three series, beating those two will be a tall order for St. Louis.

Edge: Phillies

Relief pitching

The Cardinals have two of the hardest throwing relievers in the game in their bullpen, with Jordan Hicks and closer Ryan Helsley regularly hitting 101-103 mph on the radar gun. Hicks was activated off the 15-day IL on Wednesday, and while Helsley, who finished the regular season with a 1.25 ERA and a 39 percent strikeout rate, jammed the middle finger on his right hand during his last outing, he is expected to be OK for the Wild Card Series. Along with setup man Giovanny Gallegos, Andre Pallante, emerging rookie Zack Thompson and others, the St. Louis relief corps collectively posted a 3.61 ERA.

The Phillies’ bullpen situation, particularly at the back end, has been erratic this year. Corey Knebel struggled as the club’s closer early on and Philadelphia went to a closer-by-committee approach, which also faltered. Knebel wound up lost for the season due to a tear in his right shoulder capsule.

Lefty Brad Hand looks as though he’ll be ready to go for the Wild Card Series after being sidelined with elbow tendinitis, and right-hander Seranthony Domínguez was good this season before a bumpy September. José Alvarado, David Robertson and perhaps even starter-turned-reliever Zach Eflin could be options late in postseason games. Overall, there’s a lot of uncertainty there for a bullpen that finished 23rd in MLB with a 4.27 ERA this season.

Edge: Cardinals