St. Louis Welcomes Goldschmidt to a Historic MVP Group
The St. Louis Cardinals have one of the richest histories among any professional team. Whether that is having the second most World Series championships in the MLB (11) or the third most Hall of Famers by their primary team (18), the Cardinals are one of the most successful franchises in MLB history. With Paul Goldschmidt being awarded the NL MVP for this past season, the list of accomplishments and awards continues to stack up for St. Louis.
Throughout his 12-year career, Goldschmidt has come close to winning the MVP award before. In 2013 and 2015, Goldschmidt finished second behind Andrew McCutchen and Bryce Harper, respectively, during his time in Arizona. He finished third in 2017, and sixth twice before finally getting his first MVP award this year.
Goldschmidt led St. Louis to the NL Central title in 2022, only to be eliminated from the postseason by the Phillies in the Wild Card round. The 35-year-old first baseman slugged his way into the MVP conversation throughout the season hitting 35 home runs, 115 RBIs, a slash line of .317/.404/.578, and finishing the season off with 7.8 wins above replacement.
Goldschmidt winning MVP this year makes him the first Cardinal to do so since Albert Pujols. With Pujols coming back for his final season to retire as a Cardinal, it makes it even more special for Cardinal fans. As they saw their former face of the franchise hang up his cleats and call it a career, St. Louis gained another MVP at the same position where Pujols won three MVPs earlier in his career in St. Louis.
After winning this award, Paul Goldschmidt joins a great group of former Cardinals — the group doesn’t just include Pujols as a Cardinal first baseman who has won an MVP. Keith Hernandez, Orlando Cepeda, and Stan Musial are also members of this elite group in the rich Cardinal history. In general, St. Louis has seen 14 different players win the award while wearing the birds on the bat. Willie McGee, Joe Torre, Bob Gibson, and Dizzy Dean are just a few of the 14 names.
In recent years though, St. Louis hasn’t had the same success it grew accustomed to in the past. Zero MVP winners since 2009, no World Series championships since 2011, and their last World Series appearance was in 2013.
Throughout the Cardinals’ history, you can usually find one to two players who were stars in that given decade. Whether that was Musial, Gibson, Pujols, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, or even Mark McGwire in the late ’90s.
However, the 2010s were different for St. Louis. You can look at Yadier Molina or Adam Wainwright, but they never came close to an MVP — maybe Matt Holliday if you really want to find one certain player.
Nevertheless, now they have an MVP winner in Goldschmidt locked in for this decade. Shoot, you can even throw in Nolan Arenado to go alongside Goldschmidt. Arenado did finish third in the voting this year, only behind Goldschmidt and Manny Machado of San Diego.
As the Cardinals continue to add to their rich history, this moment is bittersweet for Cardinals fans. Paul Goldschmidt is the first Cardinal since 2009 to win the MVP. However, St. Louis said goodbye to the three-time MVP winner in Albert Pujols after the 2022 season. With Pujols gone, St. Louis will welcome the 2022 MVP, Paul Goldschmidt to Busch Stadium in the 2023 MLB season.
