If you look back at the St Louis Cardinals 2009 roster, it kind of feels like a Fever Dream for baseball fans in the Midwest. You have the peak "Machine" era of Albert Pujols, a pitching staff that refused to give up runs, and a mid-season trade that basically saved the city's October plans. People usually remember 2011 because of the ring, but honestly? 2009 was arguably a more dominant regular-season squad.
They won 91 games. They ran away with the NL Central. They had the MVP, the Cy Young runner-up, and the best catcher in the world.
But then they got to the NLDS and... well, we’ll get to that.
The Year of The Machine
You can't talk about the 2009 roster without starting at first base. Albert Pujols was 29 years old and essentially a baseball god. He put up a .327 batting average, smashed 47 home runs, and drove in 135 RBIs. He won the NL MVP unanimously.
Think about that. Everyone agreed he was the best.
It wasn't just the power, though. He was walking 115 times while only striking out 64 times. That's a ratio you just don't see anymore. He also set a franchise record for assists by a first baseman in a single game (7) early that April. Basically, if the ball went near him, the play was over.
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That Rotation Was Actually Insane
While Albert was the face of the team, the starting pitching was the actual backbone. Most fans remember Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, but the depth that year was sort of legendary.
- Adam Wainwright: He led the league with 19 wins and 233 innings. He finished 3rd in Cy Young voting, though many St. Louis locals still think he was robbed.
- Chris Carpenter: Coming back from a mess of injuries, he posted a ridiculous 2.24 ERA. He actually won the NL Comeback Player of the Year.
- Joel Piñeiro: This was the year Dave Duncan (the legendary pitching coach) turned Piñeiro into a groundball machine. He threw 214 innings and looked like an ace most nights.
Kyle Lohse was in the mix too, though he struggled with some injuries after a hit-by-pitch early in the summer. When you have three guys at the top of the rotation who can all give you 200+ innings, you're going to win a lot of series. It felt like the Cardinals never lost three games in a row because one of these guys would always step up and stop the bleeding.
The Mark DeRosa and Matt Holliday Factor
By June, the offense was actually kind of a disaster. It’s hard to imagine now, but outside of Pujols, the team was in a massive "offensive blackout." Ryan Ludwick and Rick Ankiel were dealing with injuries. Khalil Greene, who was supposed to be the everyday shortstop, was struggling immensely with social anxiety disorder and ended up on the DL twice.
John Mozeliak, the GM, didn't sit on his hands.
First, they traded for Mark DeRosa from Cleveland in late June. Then, in July, they pulled the trigger on the big one: Matt Holliday.
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The Holliday trade changed everything. He came over from Oakland and hit .353 in 63 games for the Cardinals down the stretch. Suddenly, Pujols had protection. You couldn't just walk Albert anymore because Holliday was standing right there waiting to punish you.
The Weird Stuff: 13 Rookies
Most people forget how many kids played on the St Louis Cardinals 2009 roster. Because of the injuries to the veterans, Tony La Russa ended up using 13 different rookies that year.
That was a major-league high.
Guys like Colby Rasmus were finally getting a real shot. David Freese actually made his debut this year, though he wasn't "2011 World Series Hero" David Freese yet. He was just a local kid trying to find his footing. Then you had Jason Motte, who started the season as the "unofficial" closer but struggled early, leading to Ryan Franklin taking over the role.
Franklin ended up being an All-Star that year, which is one of those "only in baseball" stats. He wasn't a fireballer; he just threw strikes and let the defense work.
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Why 2009 Still Matters
The season ended in heartbreak. The Cardinals got swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS. It was brutal. Matt Holliday dropped a fly ball in Game 2 that basically haunted the city for a year.
But looking back, the 2009 roster was the blueprint. It was the year we saw the Wainwright-Molina battery truly become the best in the game. It was the year the front office proved they were willing to make the "big move" for a superstar.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Historians
If you're researching this era or trying to build a similar roster in a sim game, keep these things in mind:
- Pitching wins divisions: The 2009 Cards won because they had three "aces."
- Protection is real: Look at Pujols' stats before and after the Holliday trade. His walks dropped slightly, but his "clutch" production stabilized because he got more strikes.
- The Bench is a lie: Don't rely on 13 rookies if you want to win in the playoffs. The lack of veteran depth in the infield eventually caught up to them in October.
The 2009 season was a masterclass in regular-season dominance led by a generational talent at first base and a pitching staff that lived in the strike zone. It wasn't the championship year we wanted, but it was arguably the peak of the La Russa era's efficiency.
To really understand this team, you have to look past the sweep in October. You have to look at those hot August nights where it felt like they couldn't lose. That's where the magic of the 2009 roster actually lived.