ST. LOUIS — After a three-year delay, Major League Baseball finally returned to London. Thanks to the global pandemic of 2020, the games that were supposed to take place between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals were postponed until 2023.
The first London Series in 2019 was memorable for two big reasons: it being a matchup between long-time rivals the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, and for being a high-scoring affair. In the two-game series, the teams combined for 50 runs, with one game ending with a 17-13 score.
People wondered if the series between the Cubs and Cardinals would be more of the same. However, the dimensions at London Stadium were different for the 2019 series. In 2023, they changed the centerfield fence from 382 to 392, and the power alleys were moved back to 387.
And in 2019, it seemed like the juiced balls made it across the pond as the Yankees and Red Sox combined for nine home runs over the two days.
On the latest episode of Locked On Cardinals, host JD Hafron recapped the up-and-down series for the Cardinals and shined a spotlight on Adam Wainwright’s iffy performance on Saturday and Sunday’s comeback win.
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“Let’s talk about what just happened in the London series, shall we?” Hafron said. “The Cardinals end up splitting that series against the Cubs after getting hammered in Game One, which was an embarrassing loss. I felt bad for the team to just get used like that and abused on an international stage. Just a huge flop, my gosh, what a disaster that was.”
The Cubs got to Adam Wainwright on Saturday, scoring seven runs in three innings. Ian Happ hit two solo home runs off Wainwright—one in the second inning and one in the third inning—and he finished with two runs batted in. Wainwright was removed with no outs in the fourth inning after giving up back-to-back doubles and was charged with the seventh run when Mike Tauchman came around to score on a fielder’s choice later in the inning.
The Cubs tacked on two more runs in the top of the ninth when Dansby Swanson hit a two-run shot off Drew VerHagen. The Cards scored their lone run on a Paul Goldschmidt RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Cardinals’ offense got shut down by Cubs’ starter Justin Steele and Wainwright "just got pummeled," per Hafron. It was so bad for Wainwright that he deactivated his Twitter account this weekend.
Wainwright said via MLB.com after the game, “I’m pretty sad about it, honestly, because I pitched terrible.” He added, “We’re trying to make [new] Cardinals fans, and we didn’t make any today, and that’s because of me. It’s 2-1 without me in the game, so that whole game was my fault.”
The veteran right-hander, who turns 42 at the end of August, is two wins away from 200 for his career.
On Sunday, the Cubs opened up with a 4-0 lead in the top of the first against Cardinals rookie Matthew Libertore.
The game started off with an error by Paul Dejong, which opened the floodgates for the Cubs, including three two-out hits, and the Cardinals found themselves in an early hole again. Hafron joked about waking up early for Sunday’s game and not believing what was happening again.
Luckily, Sunday’s game would go differently than Saturday’s, and the Cardinals were able to get to Cubs’ starter Marcus Stroman. They were able to cut the deficit to 4-3 after the top of the second, thanks to an error by Trey Mancini. Jordan Walker tied the game in the third on an RBI single, and the Cardinals pulled ahead 6-4 in the fourth on the way to a 7-5 victory and a split in the series.
Next up for the Cardinals is a six-game homestand that begins on Tuesday night with a three-game series against the defending World Series Champion Houston Astros, followed by a three-game weekend set against the New York Yankees.
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