The injury bug has bitten the Cardinals in the middle of an impressive stretch of baseball. There’s never an opportune time to deal with injuries but, nearing the end of a 20-6 August, St. Louis seems to be dealing with a slew of new health issues—primarily focused on the position player side, for once.
Of course, injuries aren’t new to the 2018 Cardinals. They’ve had 36 total DL stints this season, which is second-most in the majors to the Dodgers. RosterResource combines stint length with projected 2018 pre-season value to create a metric called Roster Effect Rating, attempting to quantify the impact of the season’s injuries on a team’s ability.