Carleton

[Cody Brown Bets @CodyBrownBets]

🏀 NBA Double Up

We’ve cashed two of our last three…

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FanDuel is now available everywhere - just hit the link above to load this in every state.

21+ only.

[SPORT UNIVERSE @sportuniverse12]

Legendary Michael Jordan.

[Marquette Men’s Basketball @MarquetteMBB]

Connected as one.

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#MUBB | #WeAreMarquette

[Carleton Rivers Jr. @CoachCJRivers]

🤜🤛

[Cody Brown Bets @CodyBrownBets]

Three plus money straights I love on MNF…

🔴 Brock Purdy
🟤 Antonio Williams
🔴 George Kittle

🧵👇🏼

[MLB @MLB]

Justin Verlander says goodbye to his teammates

And then holds his daughter’s hand as he leaves the mound 🥹

[Legends Classic @LegendsBBall]

Marquette is BACK in Chicago 🏀🔥!!

The Golden Eagles will return to the United Center this November to take on Missouri in a Big East vs. SEC showdown!

🎟️ GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!
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[College Basketball Review @CbbReview]

Mat Mlodzinski lists his top 10 players in Big East basketball! What would you change and who’s missing? 🤔

[JAKE OLIVER ELLENBOGEN @JKBOGEN]

Trent McDuffie through two games looks like the best CB in the game for the #Rams.

PFF Grade: 1st
1 REC allowed on 8 TGTs for 13 YDs
4 PBUs
1 INT
2 Stops
0.0 TGT Passer Rating

[Rams Bros. @RamsBrothers]

Sicko. #9

[Dr. Tyler J. Kolek, PhD @doctorkolek]

6’8” with this kind of stroke from range (38% from 3 on AAU circuit)?

Philipe Ndong giving off shades of Michael Phillips here. And, much like MP2, if Ndong fills into his frame, he could become an underrated prospect who turns into a huge contributor for Marquette. #mubb

[Jon Chepkevich @JonChep]

NEWS: Philipe Ndong (Newman School, 2027) has committed to Marquette, his agent Kevin Tarca of @FreeGameMgmt tells DraftExpress.

The 6'9" Spanish-born Senegalese-German forward projects as a strong fit in Shaka Smart's system with his fluidity, length, and defensive versatility.

[Cardinals Stats And Facts @STL_Stats_Facts]

Leo Bernal from each side of the plate in 2026:

As a lefty: .282/.364/.482/.846
13 HRs, 19.8 K%

As a righty: .267/.362/.422/.784
3 HRs, 20.0 K%

A natural righty but he's been pretty balanced as a switch hitter in his minor league career, which is awesome to see.

[Miklasz @b_miklasz]

BERNIE COLUMN

Here’s what has me amped and buzzing today.

I looked at seven hitters that are teammates at the Cardinals Double A affiliate in Springfield, Mo. And after the magnitude of all they've done this season, I actually wrote this down on my notepad: WOW.

(Before I get going, this is another mini-column on X. I’m doing this to provide examples of how I’ll do newsletters when I take my writing to Substack, a subscription platform.)

So, about the “Blitzkrieg Bop” movement going on down in Springfield. (Shoutout, Ramones.)

Here are the seven hitters I’m referring to, in no particular (batting) order …

– Rainiel Rodriguez, catcher
– Josiah Ragsdale, outfield
– Tai Peete, outfield
– Jesus Baez, shortstop
– Won-Bin Cho, outfield
– Jack Gurevitch, first base
– Tre Richardson, second base, LF

This is a talented group of fast-moving prospects who reached Springfield from various points of origin.

Jesus Baez came to the Cardinals last summer in the trade that transferred closer Ryan Helsley to the New York Mets.

Peete came to St. Louis from Seattle as part of the Brendan Donovan exchange.

Ragsdale just checked in as part of the splendid return from Milwaukee for pitchers Dustin May and JoJo Romero at the trade deadline.

Tre Richardson was drafted in the 15th round by the Cardinals in 2023. Gurevitch was a third-round pick by the Cards in 2025.

Rodriguez was an international free-agent signing out of the Dominican Republic – though he lived with his family near Philadelphia for about 10 years before heading back to the D.R.

Won-Bin Cho, from South Korea, entered the Cardinals system as an international amateur free-agent signing in early 2022. He made history as the first Asian amateur player ever signed by the St. Louis organization.

All seven began the 2026 season playing at lower levels of the minors.

Since then it's been up, up, up.

It’s a young bunch. Rodriguez is 19, Peete is 20, Baez is 21. Ragsdale, Gurevitch and Cho are 22, and Richardson is the big brother at age 24.

These Springfield Cardinals don’t fly – but they make pitches fly far when they swing and connect. These prodigy sluggers gravitate toward the batter’s box with a bat in hand and damage on their minds.

Here’s why I’m fired up.

The 2026 Cardinals are pathetically low on power. It’s the No. 1 flaw that holds their offense down. Over their last 50 games, the Cards are last in the National League in home runs, last in slugging percentage, last in Isolated Power and last in park-and-league adjusted runs created.

Because of the power-shortage offense, St. Louis scored no more than four runs in 35 of the last 50 games – and were held to three or fewer biscuits in 29 of the 50.

And in a related note, the Cards' record over the last 50 games is 20-30 for a .400 winning percentage that's the worst in the NL over that time.

With prospects there are hopes and dreams but no guarantees. But that doesn’t stop me from thinking about this surge in Springfield. Double A is not that far away. We can project at least some of these wrecking-crew bats coming to the Cardinals by late 2027, or 2028.

Let’s see how this unfolds – but power is on the way including Triple A Memphis home-run prince Joshua Baez and his 32 homers and .577 slug.

Given my cuckoo love for statistics, here’s what I did Thursday morning. I pulled the numbers for all seven hitters and mashed them together to form a composite.

I used the entire 2026 season stats to date, which include their hitting performance at every level of the system they’ve visited.

Here’s what I came up with …

.287 batting average
.380 onbase percentage
.548 slugging percentage
.932 OPS

Not bad. The seismic seven have combined for 117 doubles, 13 triples and 135 home runs. They have a totaled 409 RBIs and 437 runs scored.

When we add everything up and put it into one stat, these seven bangers have collectively hit a home run every 15.2 at-bats. If we want to slide Josh Baez in there to make it eight sticks of dynamite instead of seven, the HR ratio is one homer per 14.6 at-bats.

Just because my imagination is running hot, let me throw this in: notable major-league hitters that averaged a homer roughly every 15 at-bats in their careers include Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Mike Schmidt, Ryan Howard, Manny Ramirez and (currently) Mike Trout. No, I'm not saying any of the Cardinal prospects will develop into Mantle. I'm just having some fun here!

You want more than power? You want speed and aggressiveness on the basepaths? Maybe a little of the small-ball action?

Well, the slick seven had combined for 121 stolen bases this season through Wednesday. Cho (26), Richardson (28) and Ragsdale (31) have 85 of those steals, but Rodriguez and Peete have each swiped a double-digit number of bags.

You want all-around play? Ragsdale is the only player in the minor leagues this season to have a combination of 20 doubles, 20 homers, 30+ steals and an OPS of 1.000 or higher.

All seven Blitzkrieg Boppers carry a slugging percentage ranging from .507 to .584. Three have 20+ home runs. Three others have 17 to 19 home runs.

The only exception is Peete, who has 10 bombs. But that’s because he’s played only 47 games because of injuries that included a concussion. Since settling back in, Peete recently had a pair of two-homer games.

If you think I’m geeking out, you’re probably right. But give the old dog a break. Actually, give me a snack and make sure to subscribe to my Substack when it launches.

Anyway ...

Some of you that have been around for a while may recall the waves of excitement over a bunch of hitters that passed through town … with some of us thinking they would be the answer to the wrong kind of power struggle.

John Gall, Phil Plantier, Joe Mather, Brandon Moss, Jeremy Hazelbaker, Mark Reynolds, Xavier Scruggs, Justin Williams, Luken Baker, Mark Reynolds, John Rodriguez, Patrick Wisdom, Juan Yepez. So many others.

What an assortment of … bodies.

I refuse to include Tyler O’Neill. He was a Cardinal for six seasons. And over the six seasons he was housed on the Injured List on 12 occasions. That makes sense which because he averaged a little more than 12 home runs per year for St. Louis.

Am I supposed to be impressed by O’Neill’s 217 RBIs as a Cardinal? Nope. He missed 248 days to injuries -- higher count than his RBIs. O'Neill's boo-boo kiss series of ailments defined him more than his power.

Hell, let's talk about someone I like. When Matt Adams was swinging a bat for the Cardinals, he was Baby Effen Ruth by comparison.

So yeah, for me, the power station in Springfield is a reason to get charged up.

Thanks for reading …

–B

[Ryan @The_Ryan_Shull]

Farm so deep that Daniel Eagen (Arizona #5) slots in at #17 on the @Cardinals top 30.

[Illinois State Track & Field/XC @RedbirdTFXC]

A career to be proud of👏

Macee Rivers earns Honorable Mention All-America honors in the 100-meters in her final race as a Redbird!

[Illinois State Track & Field/XC @RedbirdTFXC]

Next stop: Eugene ✈️

[Holden Kurwicki @Holden_Kurwicki]

Three 🐐 of STL sports

[Darius Austin @_CoachDA_]

@PettusReo @DarrenSunkett @CochBG4 @hamitchom @CoachTDismukes @Rivals @On3 @JPRockMO @247recruiting @gobigrecruiting @TheUCReport Tough