JUPITER, Fla. • As the first games of spring training approached, catcher Yadier Molina chatted with second baseman Kolten Wong and center fielder Harrison Bader about the trait shared by his Cardinals teams that won the last game of October.
As the Cardinals open Grapefruit League play Saturday with the first of 31 exhibition games, shortstop Paul DeJong and Wong will start at the same time as will Bader. More often than not, Shildt said, that trio will appear in games together, especially early in the schedule, to work on and fortify the communication up the middle that Molina stressed.