ST. LOUIS -- Nolan Arenado has been through the spin cycle of returning to a former home ballpark before, so he has the benefit of experiential wisdom when it comes to handling the emotions of four games at Busch Stadium this week.
“Being 35 now [helps],” Arenado joked Monday from the Diamondbacks' dugout. “I’m a little older now, so I’ll be OK. In ‘21, it was kind of a weird moment, obviously being there [in Colorado] for eight years. I’m gonna take it in. I know I’m coming toward the end. Back then in Colorado, I didn’t really take it in as much. Here I probably will just because it means a little different here. I’m really excited for the game to start.”
After five seasons as a Cardinal, Arenado was traded to Arizona this winter for pitching prospect Jack Martinez. The deal came at a time when Arenado was prepared to move on, laser-focused on winning a championship as the Cardinals were preparing to reboot their own organization.
Fate and baseball, of course, would never allow the story to be told in quite such a linear fashion. Whatever the expectations around the clubs entering the season, St. Louis enters this series holding down the first Wild Card position in the National League. The Diamondbacks are one game back of the Cubs for the third Wild Card spot, three games back of the Cardinals.
If Arizona is going to get over that hump and into a playoff spot, it will be in no small part thanks to the on- and off-field contributions of their no-brainer Hall of Famer at third base.
“We tap into his expertise whenever we can,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said of Arenado. “We ask questions about certain things, like the field today, the opposition today. What’s been your experience in these moments when you’re treading water, you’re a .500 team, how do you get over the top? We go into his mind a little bit, the best way we can, and he’s so gracious with the time that he’ll give us.”
Learning to walk that path of being an open book of experience has been, by his own admission, a challenge for Arenado. He spoke Monday of not fully appreciating some of his experiences in St. Louis simply by virtue of the pressure he put on himself.
“I think that’s kind of the mistake I made,” Arenado acknowledged. “If I didn’t drive the runs in, I’d feel like we were gonna lose, like it’s my fault, even though I might’ve hit a home run early in the game or something … just stuff like that that I should’ve never [done]."
An aged Arenado, if a more wise Arenado, sounded like a familiar and contemplative figure to those in St. Louis who knew him best.
“It’s more understanding and appreciative of how this all works,” said Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol, who was Arenado’s skipper in four of his five seasons in St. Louis. “Being able to take a step back and actually take some of that in as you get older and further in your career and actually understand the meaning behind all of it, and people just appreciating what you bring to the table over the years.”
What Arenado brought to the table as a Cardinal is three All-Star selections, two Gold Gloves, a Silver Slugger and a third place NL MVP finish in 2022. It was that 2022 season to which Arenado returned in his recollections several times Monday, highlighting it as the period of time as a Cardinal which he remembers the most fondly.
It was less his achievements, though, than that of his teammates, and he described the awe of watching Albert Pujols chase down his 700th home run and seeing Paul Goldschmidt secure that season’s MVP. It was also Arenado’s most recent appearance in the postseason, and with time, he’s grown better able to appreciate the year’s accomplishments rather than rueing his team’s Wild Card Series exit at the hands of the eventual pennant-winning Phillies.
“The expectations going into [2023] were still really high after ‘22, and we didn’t live up to it,” Arenado said. “The season was bad from the jump, and so I put a lot of pressure on myself, because if I turned a thing around, or it was my fault why those things were happening. So I wish I didn’t do that, if I could go back.”
He can’t go back in body, but there is hope he might be able to in spirit. Predictions were strong for a warm reception from an appreciative Busch Stadium crowd, and Arenado admitted he started to look forward to that reception as the Diamondbacks’ plane approached the city Sunday evening.
“I hope people understand the sacrifice it takes to be that good for that long,” Marmol said. “Even in years where it doesn’t go your way, the amount of work that takes place in order to at least try to get there. My hope is one, the reception is strong; and two, that he’s able to take a moment and take it in a little bit.”