The St. Louis Cardinals announced that their future Hall of Fame catcher Yadier Molina has agreed to return for one more season before retiring. The one-year contract will extend Molina’s tenure with the organization to 19 years, the most in franchise history after Stan Musial, who played in 22 seasons.

“On behalf of the Cardinals and our fans, it gives me great pleasure to announce that Yadier Molina will continue his franchise legacy for another season in 2022,” Cardinals chairman, Bill DeWitt Jr., shared in a public statement, “Yadi has continued to play at an All-Star level this season, and has already established himself among the greatest players to have ever worn the birds on the bat.”

The 39-year-old has carved out quite the resume, one that features ten All-Star appearances, nine Gold Glove Awards, and two World Series rings. In addition to his on-field exploits, Molina has also been commended for his many humanitarian contributions. He was the recipient of the 2018 Roberto Clemente Award after his nonprofit charity Fundación 4, dedicated to helping underprivileged children in Puerto Rico, raised over $800,000 in relief following Hurricane Maria.

Opening Day of Major League Baseball will be here in the blink of an eye.  Now is a good time to look at each team’s prognosis heading into the 2021 season after the 60-game 2020 abbreviated season.

> GET THE BEST ST. LOUIS CARDINALS TICKET DEALS HERE!

Generally speaking, the St. Louis Cardinals have been one of the better franchises in baseball. St. Louis has made a total of 14 trips to the playoffs. The team has also won two World Series since 2000. Overall, the Cardinals have won 12 championships over the franchise’s 139-year history. 2021 should be another promising year for the Cardinals as they will compete to make the postseason for the third year in a row.

Here are the Cardinals’ projected starters.

St. Louis Cardinals Projected Batting Order:

1. 2B Tommy Edman
2. 1B Paul Goldschmidt
3. 3B Nolan Arenado 
4. SS Paul DeJong
5. C Yadier Molina
6. OF Dylan Carlson
7. OF Tyler O’Neil
8. OF Harrison Bader 
9. Pitcher

St. Louis Cardinals Projected Pitching Staff:

• SP1 Jack Flaherty
• SP2 Kwang Hyun Kim
• SP3 Adam Wainwright
• SP4 Miles Mikolas
• SP5 Carlos Martinez
• CL Jordan Hicks

St. Louis Cardinals Team Outlook:

The Cardinals made some changes in the offseason. One of the team’s biggest moves was acquiring superstar third baseman Nolan Arenado from the Colorado Rockies. The Cards also traded outfielder Dexter Fowler to the Los Angeles Angels for a minor leaguer. 

While the Cards made additions, they also suffered some losses, including losing second baseman Kolten Wong, third baseman Brad Miller and catcher Matt Wieters to free agency. Two players that were brought back via free agency were catcher Yadier Molina and starter Adam Wainwright. 

Regarding the starting rotation, the team’s ace is Jack Flaherty, and he is followed by three veterans. Starter Kwang Hyun Kim showed the ability to pitch quality innings in 2020, and he is likely to be successful in 2021. The bullpen is in good hands with Jordan Hicks returning from Tommy John surgery, plus Alex Reyes has a strong arm with closing potential. Offensively, the top half of the lineup is strong and powerful, but the bottom half is inconsistent. From the looks of it, the Cardinals have what it takes to be a competitive team in 2021. 

St. Louis Cardinals Schedule:

> GET THE BEST ST. LOUIS CARDINALS TICKET DEALS HERE!

Yadier Molina will be out for at least a month after getting hit in the crotch with a ball in Saturday’s 8-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium.

Yadier Molina Has Surgery, Out For Four Weeks

The St. Louis Cardinals catcher will have surgery for a traumatic hematoma, a swelling of blood clots within the tissues. The fastball that him was reportedly thrown at 102 mph. To replace the Puerto Rican, prospect Carson Kelly was called up from Triple-A Memphis. Francisco Pena will also serve as catcher for the Cardinals in the meantime.

According to MLB, 35-year-old Molina is hitting .272/.292/.456 with six homers and 17 RBIs in 120 at-bats in 2018.

SLIDESHOW: 30 Best Sports Instagrams!

The Cardinals (20-12, first in NL Central) also defeated the Cubs 4-3 on Sunday to win all three games in the series. St. Louis next hosts Minnesota on Monday at 8:10pm EST for the opener of a two-game series.

Here are some fan reactions to Molina’s injury:

LIDESHOW: 10 Highest-Paid Athletes

Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Chris Coghlan made his team go wild when he performed a spectacular diving flip over Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina to break a tie in St. Louis on Tuesday night.

Watch: Blue Jays’ Chris Coghlan Flips Over Cardinals’ Yadier Molina

With the game tied 2-2 and out one remaining in the top of the seventh inning, Coghlan smacked a 1-1 pitch from Cardinals reliever Matt Bowman to deep right field and ran around the bases as Stephen Piscotty crashed into the wall attempting to catch the Blue Jays utility player’s ball.

To end the play, Coghlan somersaulted over Molina right before arriving at home base to avoid Piscotty’s tag attempt and put Toronto up 3-2.

Coghlan fell headfirst on home plate, rolling to his feet, checked the umpire’s call and then ran back to the Jays’ dugout.

“Last second really,” Coghlan admitted. “I was coming around third. I looked to my left to see where the ball was and I thought it was going to beat me. Then probably the last step or two I saw Yadi go down and your first thought’s like, OK I’m going to run him over because he’s right over the plate. Then I was thinking since he was down, why don’t you jump and I just jumped. Then the rest was history. I was joking. I was trying to do my best Willie Mays Hayes impersonation.”

The 31-year-old Jays outfielder was referring to his attempt at doing an impression of Wesley Snipes’ character from the 1989 baseball comedy movie ‘Major League.’

Several of Coghlan’s teammates couldn’t help but be thoroughly flabbergasted by his athletic prowess. Toronto starter Marco Estrada explained his reaction in a very comical way.

“When I saw Coghlan do a front flip over Molina, it was like I saw a unicorn or something,” right-hander Estrada said. “It’s just something that doesn’t happen. You might not ever see that again. I’m glad I saw it. I’m going to remember that forever.”

The Blue Jays tweeted a GIF of Coghlan’s leaping flip:

Toronto won 6-5 in 11 innings on Tuesday in the three-game series opener in St. Louis.

“A crazy game,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “A great game, but a crazy game. Especially for what we’ve been through the last few weeks, an emotional roller-coaster.”

Toronto’s starting pitcher Marcus Stroman also helped set up the Jay’s game-winning rally in the 11th by recording his first career hit, a double to take advantage of a Cardinals defensive error: first baseman Jose Martinez couldn’t quite catch a wide throw from Aledmys Diaz. 

Stroman then scored the go-ahead run on Diaz’s errant toss on Steve Pearce’s two-out ground ball.

The starter was equally impressed with Coghlan’s somersault.

“That was one of the most unbelievable live plays I’ve ever seen in my life,” Stroman said. “Something you see in video games and movies where guys kind of go right over the catcher. You never see it happen in a big-league game, so that was crazy. I think we were all in kind of awe.”

The second game of the series was postponed from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday afternoon due to rain, so the Cardinals and Jays will face off in St. Louis for the first game of a double-header Thursday at 1:45 p.m. EST. The second game of the day is at 8:15 pm EST.

Yadier Molina is not happy with Major League Baseball right now.

The St. Louis Cardinals catcher, who is playing for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic, accused MLB of failing to provide security in the section where his national team’s players’ families sat during a 9-4 victory over Mexico in Guadalajara, Mexico on Saturday.

In the ninth inning, play was interrupted when Puerto Rico players left the dugout and gathered along the wall on the third-base side at Estadio de Béisbol Charros de Jalisco. According to game organizers, a disturbance had happened between a fan and family members of the Puerto Rico team.

Following the game, Molina wrote on his Instagram page that it was a “shame” that players became concerned about their families and that the event had been terribly organized.

“MLB,,, its a shame that you are more interested in making money and not in the security of our family,” Molina said in the post, which he wrote in both English and Spanish. “Its a shame that the players have to be worried about the safety of our family when you were supposed to have security for them,, Horrible organization for the this event, no security for the players family,,, its a shame MLB.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRh_756BIcm/

“Security staff responded quickly and relocated the families to a new area,” said the W.B.C., which is jointly run by M.L.B. and the players’ union, in a statement Sunday. “Stadium security is always our main priority, and we will make every effort to prevent another such situation.”

Play resumed approximately five minutes later, after the stadium announcer urged players to return to the dugout and fans to behave appropriately. After the game, Puerto Rico’s players said no family members had been hurt.

“I know the fans of Mexico are good fans, but the rivalry between Puerto Rico and Mexico is part of the game,” Puerto Rico shortstop Francisco Lindor said. “It’s too bad that something happens like this, in such a beautiful atmosphere.”

In other news related to the WBC, Mexico filed a protest after it was eliminated from the tournament due to falling short of playing in a tiebreaker despite defeating Venezuela in its final game.

Mexico beat Venezuela 11-9, which left it with the same record as Venezuela and Italy. But the latter two teams will play a tie-breaking game tonight in Guadalajara because Venezueal edged Mexico in the tiebreaker. The margin of victory in this tiebreaker was incredibly slim: 1.11 to 1.12.

Mexico’s manager, Edgar Gonzalez, questioned whether his team’s partial inning against Italy – it gave up five ninth-inning runs, but failed to record an out in the 10-9 walk-off loss – should count in the computations.

His brother, Los Angeles Dodgers star and Mexico first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, was even more pointed, claiming the Mexicans were told before the game that a two-run victory would be sufficient for the team to reach the tiebreaker. He later told reporters the conclusion would make him think harder before participating in future WBCs.

Adrian Gonzales seemed to be up all night filing the protest.

The winner of tonight’s tiebreaker game will join Pool D winner Puerto Rico – which went 3-0 in Guadalajara – in the second round at San Diego’s Petco Park, beginning Tuesday.
PITTSBURGH, PA – SEPTEMBER 06: Yadier Molina #4 of the St. Louis Cardinals rounds third after hitting a grand slam home run in the first inning during the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on September 6, 2016 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

Yadier Molina had already provided his brother, Bengie, with something to talk about when he homered in the fifth inning at Busch Stadium on Thursday, as Bengie was doing a Spanish internet radio broadcast upstairs.

Yadier Molina’s Controversial Walk-off Double Lifts Cardinals to 4-3 Home Win Over Reds

That broadcast was part of a promotion for Hispanic Heritage Month.

However, Molina gave his brother another reason to keep talking. After the Cincinnati Reds tied the game in the ninth inning, the catcher hit a controversial, walk-off RBI double that led the St. Louis Cardinals to a thrilling, 4-3 victory over the Reds.

The win put pressure on the Giants, who beat the Rockies late on Thursday to keep the Cardinals a game back of the second National League Wild Card spot. The Wild Card-leading Mets, off on Thursday, maintain the top spot with three days remaining in the regular season.

“Pure excitement. Pure joy,” Cardinals outfielder Stephen Piscotty said of the ending. “That’s a huge hit from a legendary player. Just the way the crowd reacted, it was just something that was playful, and it was cool to have that moment.”

Molina stepped up to the plate with two out and the potential winning run on first, and smacked a ball to left field. It bounced off the warning track and hit a panel of signage beyond the wall before caroming back into play. A throw from left fielder Adam Duvall was too late to get Matt Carpenter, who raced home to start the celebration.

What made Molina’s double so controversial? As the hosts began to celebrate in their dugout, the Reds remained on the field, desiring to challenge that the ball should have been ruled dead– and the umpires should have therefore ruled Molina’s hit as a ground-rule double– when it hit the signage. Cincinnati’s manager, Bryan Price, waited too long before requesting a review, and the game officially ended.

“In this situation, Bryan Price did not come up on the top step,” crew chief Bill Miller told a pool reporter after the game. “We stayed there. I waited for my partners to come off the field. I looked into the dugout, the Cincinnati dugout, and Bryan Price made no eye contact with me whatsoever, and then after 30 seconds he finally realized, somebody must have told him what had happened, and we were walking off the field.”

Before Molina’s walk-off double, the Reds had scored runs in the eighth and ninth frames. Duvall’s RBI single drove in one before an infield single by Scott Schebler in the ninth tied the score with two outs. In the bottom half of the ninth, Carpenter drew a one-out walk to initiate the Cardinals’ final big rally.

Cardinals center fielder Randal Grichuk allowed the Reds to tie it up in the ninth when he misread Ramon Cabrera’s fly ball to open the inning. Grichuk was unable to recover in time, and Cabrera’s toss flew over his glove for a double. A groundout pushed Cabrera to third before Schebler got a hit off closer Seung Hwan Oh that St. Louis had not chance of fielding for an out.

Joey Votto delivered his third hit of the night in the top of the eighth with a lofted double to left field that one-hopped in front of Tommy Pham. However, as Votto hustled and slid into second base, he was hit in the face by Pham’s toss. This left him with a bloodied chin that force him out of the game; he would need seven stitches.

“I feel fine,” Votto said after the game, his chin bandaged.

The Reds (67-92, 5th in NL Central) will next host the Cubs on Friday in their final series of the regular season (first of three games). Reliever Josh Smith will make his second start of the season.

The Cardinals, (83-76, 2nd in NL Central) meanwhile, will host the Pirates in the first game of their final three-game series on Friday. Cardinals righty Carlos Martinez will take the mound. Martinez is 15-9 on the season.

ST. LOUIS, MO – SEPTEMBER 14: Yadier Molina #4 of the St. Louis Cardinals hits a single in the eighth inning against the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium on September 14, 2016 in St. Louis, Missouri. The Cubs defeated the Cardinals 7-0. (Photo by Michael Thomas/Getty Images)

Yadier Molina smacked a grand slam to right field beyond PNC Park’s Clemente wall in the top of the first inning to lift the St. Louis Cardinals to a 9-7 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates Tuesday night, while also writing his team into the National League record books.

Yadier Molina’s Grand Slam Leads Cardinals To 9-7 Win Vs Pirates

Molina’s grand slam– his first since 2012 and fourth of his career– pushed the Cardinals’ home run streak to 25 games, matching an NL record set by the Pirates earlier this season. If the team also homers in its next two games, it will tie the longest streak in Major League history, which was established by the Texas Rangers in 2002.

“Impressive,” manager Mike Matheny stated after being reminded of the streak following St. Louis’ come-from-behind win. “Once again, it shows the talent level, and the guys we have are taking good at-bats.”

Molina, who didn’t earn his first home run until May 21, has now hit seven this season. Three have come in the seven games he has played on this road trip, during which he has gone 13-for-29 (.448). He recorded four hits on Tuesday, thus increasing his season average to .296, the highest it has been since May.

The Puerto Rican catcher, who turned 34 during the All-Star break, has had a stellar second half. He’s hitting .364 with 21 extra-base hits since the midseason break.

“I’m just seeing the ball pretty good now,” Molina said. “When I hit the ball hard early in the season, it was right at people. Right now, they’re finding holes. I’m in great shape and a great point in my career. I feel good.”

The Pirates, who lost their eighth straight game, now sit 5 1/2 games behind the Cardinals in the Wild Card standings. The Cardinals remain half a game behind the Giants for the NL’s first wild card.

Starling Marte’s inefficient route turned into a leadoff triple by Kolten Wong. Following a one-out walk to Brandon Moss, Matt Adams hit a weak grounder that first baseman John Jaso was unable to turn into an out. Wong, who broke on contact, slid safely back into third before Jaso’s toss.

“I know with [Ryan] Vogelsong, it’s going to be in the strike zone,” said Molina, who hadn’t had a first-pitch home run this season. “I was ready to hit.”

With an NL-high 201 homers this season, the Cardinals are on track to break their franchise single-season record of 235, which they set in 2000.

Matt Carpenter, assigned a break Tuesday because Matheny worried about how heavily he wore three strikeouts on Monday, came off the bench to make history and tie the score with a two-out, pinch-hit homer in the ninth. Carpenter’s solo blast on an 0-2 pitch from Pittsburgh closer Tony Watson marked the first of three homers St. Louis hit that inning for a crazy comeback.

In 10 games at PNC Park last season, the Cardinals had 140 at-bats against Pittsburgh’s left-handed pitchers. They hit a total of five home runs. On Tuesday, they hit three against a left-hander in the span of four at-bats. Carpenter tied it up, Randal Grichuk added to it, and Jhonny Peralta capped it off.

Matheny admitted he was at a loss for words by the end of the game.

“There’s a whole lot that happened here,” Matheny said. “Speechless.”

The two teams will face off for their three-game series finale at PNC Park on Wednesday night. Right-hander Mike Leake, sidelined since Aug. 21 with shingles, will start for the Cardinals, (73-64, 2nd in NL Central) while rookie righty Jameson Taillon will take the mound for the Pirates (67-69, 3rd in NL Central).

PITTSBURGH, PA – SEPTEMBER 06: Yadier Molina #4 of the St. Louis Cardinals rounds third after hitting a grand slam home run in the first inning during the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on September 6, 2016 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)