Regardless, Arenado was still the most impactful player on the field with the way he fielded his position in spectacular fashion yet again.
A nine-time Gold Glove winner in all nine of his previous MLB seasons, Arenado showed why he is a heavy favorite to win a 10th straight top fielding award with a host of stellar plays in the Cardinals’ 8-0 throttling of the Cubs at Busch Stadium. The finest of them all, one where he short-hopped a bouncer and deftly threw around Chicago speedster Nick Madrigal to prevent a run in the first inning, leaving Arenado’s admirers in awe of what they had just seen.
“He’s made some unbelievable plays, and I’m not sure how he makes half of them, to be honest with you,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said.
“I think he’s just a crazy athlete, he’s really good, and I trust any ground ball hit to him is going to be an out,” said starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery, who benefited greatly from Arenado’s defense as he improved to 5-0 as a Cardinal.
Then, there was this from Cubs manager David Ross, who knows next-level defense when he sees it: “I was tired of us hitting the ball to him. He can do those kinds of things to you. The play he made on Madrigal [in the first inning]I’d say 99 percent of third basemen can’t make that play.”
Arenado’s defensive brilliance more than made up for a forgettable night at the plate — a rarity, of course, considering he hit .364 with an NL-best 1.139 OPS, nine home runs and 29 RBIs in August. On Friday, he totally flipped the momentum of the game with the play at the plate three batters in and then had three others where he ranged in or to his left and made perfect off-balanced throws. Ever the perfectionist, Arenado was critical of himself on the one play he didn’t make — a dribbler by Nelson Velázquez that was ruled a hit, but he at least made it close at first base.
“When Monty pitches, he throws that sinker, so you usually get a lot of work,” Arenado said. “I like it because I want the ball to hit me. I feel like I did a good job of making every play, except on the Velázquez play, and I feel like I should have made it.”
“Obviously, offensively I didn’t do a lot today other than hit one ball hard,” Arenado added. “But the great thing about taking pride in your defense [is impacting games that way]. I try to be a two-way player, and you can help win the game that way. I don’t ever want to be a [reason] for losing the game on defense. I’d rather be a reason we could win.”
On a night when MVP candidates Paul Goldschmidt (0-for-3) and Arenado (0-for-4) didn’t have a hit, the Cardinals still had more than enough firepower to beat the Cubs for an 11th time in 17 meetings . St. Louis got home runs from Lars Nootbaar and Tommy Edman, a two-hit night from 40-year-old catcher Yadier Molina, a fourth scoreless outing in six starts from Montgomery and Jordan Hicks’ three-strikeout performance to get out of a jam.
None of that might have been possible without the momentum-swinging play Arenado made in the first inning.
Said Arenado, who deflected the praise to Molina: “High-chopper and my only play was to go to first or home. … I was supposed to throw it up the line, and Yadi did a good job of going in foul territory, but I didn’t trust myself to angle it like that, and I trusted myself to throw it inside. luckily, [Molina] adjusted perfectly.”
Plays like that, Marmol said, are why Arenado should be on the short list of players who are thought to be the best in baseball.
“He’s the best third baseman in the game, and he stays locked regardless of the situation,” Marmol said. “He answers the bell every single day, never wants a day off and still plays as if he’s fresh. I’d like to see another third baseman do it at the level he’s doing it.”
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