The St. Louis Cardinals rank among MLB leaders in low-scoring games on both sides of the ledger.
Through 60 games of the 2010 season, many St. Louis Cardinals would already assume the club has had more than their fair share of games when their offense failed to score enough to win. They would also expect that the team’s pitching staff has had a good number of contests in which they held their opponent at bay.
Researcher Tom Orf pulled the evidence.
Offensively, St. Louis is third in the major leagues in number of games shut out with six. They were held to one run eight more times and lost all those games. The Cardinals are fourth in MLB with the most games having scored one run or fewer at 14.
Expanding the aperture to include games of scoring two runs still keeps the Cardinals in the bottom quarter of baseball. They are tied for seventh with 19 two-or-less run games and actually managed to win two of them.
Including contests when scoring three runs or less, including Wednesday’s 4-3 loss to the Dodgers, the Cardinals drop to the bottom half of MLB. They rank 18th with 24 three-or-fewer run games. Oddly, when scoring exactly three runs, their record is just 1-4.
MLB runs scored, 2010, through June 9
0 RUNS | 1 RUN OR LESS | 2 RUNS OR LESS | 3 RUNS OR LESS | |||||||||||||||||||
Rk | Team | G | W | L | Rk | Team | G | W | L | Rk | Team | G | W | L | Rk | Team | G | W | L | |||
1 | PIT | 7 | 0 | 7 | 1 | BAL | 18 | 0 | 18 | 1 | HOU | 27 | 2 | 25 | 1 | PIT | 38 | 8 | 30 | |||
1 | LAD | 7 | 0 | 7 | 2 | HOU | 16 | 0 | 16 | 2 | BAL | 27 | 1 | 26 | 2 | BAL | 37 | 2 | 35 | |||
3 | STL | 6 | 0 | 6 | 3 | PHI | 15 | 1 | 14 | 3 | PIT | 25 | 5 | 20 | 3 | SDP | 33 | 13 | 20 | |||
3 | SFG | 6 | 0 | 6 | 4 | STL | 14 | 0 | 14 | 4 | SEA | 25 | 1 | 24 | 3 | HOU | 33 | 4 | 29 | |||
3 | PHI | 6 | 0 | 6 | 5 | SEA | 13 | 0 | 13 | 5 | CHC | 23 | 2 | 21 | 5 | SEA | 31 | 4 | 27 | |||
3 | MIL | 6 | 0 | 6 | 6 | SFG | 12 | 0 | 12 | 6 | SDP | 20 | 6 | 14 | 6 | CLE | 29 | 4 | 25 | |||
3 | HOU | 6 | 0 | 6 | 6 | PIT | 12 | 0 | 12 | 7 | STL | 19 | 2 | 17 | 6 | OAK | 29 | 3 | 26 | |||
3 | ATL | 6 | 0 | 6 | 6 | LAD | 12 | 4 | 8 | 7 | SFG | 19 | 2 | 17 | 8 | PHI | 28 | 7 | 21 | |||
6 | OAK | 12 | 1 | 11 | 7 | PHI | 19 | 4 | 15 | 8 | CHC | 28 | 3 | 25 | ||||||||
7 | CLE | 19 | 0 | 19 | 18 | STL | 24 | 3 | 21 | |||||||||||||
7 | OAK | 19 | 2 | 17 |
Switching over to pitching, the Cardinals are again among MLB’s leaders in most games holding the opponent either off the scoreboard or with few crooked numbers.
St. Louis pitching has tossed five shutouts, tied for seventh in the big leagues. Their no and one-run game total of 12 is ninth-most. When adding two-run contests, Cardinals pitching jumps up to fourth in MLB at 22 and holds that ranking with three-run opponent scoring games are included.
MLB runs allowed, 2010, through June 9
0 RUNS | 1 RUN OR LESS | 2 RUNS OR LESS | 3 RUNS OR LESS | |||||||||||||||||||
Rk | Team | G | W | L | Rk | Team | G | W | L | Rk | Team | G | W | L | Rk | Team | G | W | L | |||
1 | SDP | 9 | 9 | 0 | 1 | SDP | 18 | 17 | 1 | 1 | SDP | 28 | 25 | 3 | 1 | ATL | 35 | 27 | 8 | |||
2 | OAK | 7 | 7 | 0 | 2 | SFG | 15 | 12 | 3 | 2 | SFG | 24 | 18 | 6 | 2 | TBR | 34 | 30 | 4 | |||
2 | NYM | 7 | 7 | 0 | 3 | NYY | 14 | 14 | 0 | 3 | TBR | 23 | 21 | 2 | 2 | MIN | 34 | 28 | 6 | |||
2 | COL | 7 | 7 | 0 | 3 | NYM | 14 | 14 | 0 | 4 | STL | 22 | 14 | 8 | 4 | STL | 32 | 23 | 9 | |||
5 | SFG | 6 | 6 | 0 | 5 | TBR | 14 | 14 | 0 | 4 | TOR | 22 | 20 | 2 | 4 | SFG | 32 | 22 | 10 | |||
5 | PHI | 6 | 6 | 0 | 5 | OAK | 13 | 13 | 0 | 4 | NYM | 22 | 19 | 3 | 4 | SDP | 32 | 28 | 4 | |||
7 | STL | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | FLA | 13 | 12 | 1 | 7 | PHI | 21 | 17 | 4 | 4 | NYY | 32 | 30 | 2 | |||
7 | TOR | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | COL | 13 | 13 | 0 | 7 | NYY | 21 | 20 | 1 | 8 | SEA | 29 | 20 | 9 | |||
7 | TBR | 5 | 5 | 0 | 9 | STL | 12 | 10 | 2 | 9 | COL | 20 | 19 | 1 | 8 | NYM | 29 | 22 | 7 | |||
7 | LAD | 5 | 5 | 0 | 9 | LAD | 12 | 10 | 2 | 9 | ATL | 20 | 16 | 4 | 8 | CHC | 29 | 17 | 12 | |||
7 | BOS | 5 | 5 | 0 | 9 | BOS | 12 | 12 | 0 |
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