Cold streaks mount in the St. Louis sports scene, both professional and college
ST. LOUIS – It’s been a tough stretch recently for many professional and college sports teams prominent to the St. Louis region. To simply put it, losses are mounting and results just aren’t there.
To certain extents, the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Blues, St. Louis CITY SC, Saint Louis University Billikens Men’s Basketball and Missouri Tigers Men’s Basketball teams are all caught in cold streaks, a prolonged period of time in which desired outcomes aren’t necessarily coming to fruition.
Game losses are a key indicator, but not the only measure of a cold streak. The timeframes of the concurrent struggles look a little bit different for each of the aforementioned teams as well.
What do these cold streaks look like? Let’s dig in…
St. Louis Cardinals
Cold streak: Zero home runs through their first six spring games
It’s hard to put too much stock into the early weeks of spring training games. Most players only see around two or three at-bats per game every other day until it gets deeper into March. That said, the Cardinals have several guys on paper who should reach double digits in home runs this year. And to this point, the Cardinals are the only MLB team without a home run in spring action.
Runs have been tough to come by since the Cardinals split-squad opener on the spring schedule. They have only generated seven runs over their last four games.
The Cardinals have two wins, two losses and two ties through their first six spring contests. Surely enough, someone will hit a home run soon, but the cold start in the power department is definitely worth monitoring.
St. Louis Blues
Cold streak: Only two wins in their last eight games
What’s interesting about the St. Louis Blues’ current rut is it followed arguably their best stretch of the season, seven wins in eight games around the All-Star break. That stretch pushed them into the NHL playoff picture. Their latest stretch has led them to fall out of it.
The Blues have 23 games remaining on schedule and sit five points behind the Nashville Predators for the final Western Conference Wild Card spot with one game in hand. Had they won their Feb. 17 matchup against Nashville, the Blues would be in a much better spot to try and salvage playoffs.
Those hopes aren’t over just yet, but they look bleak after the latest cold streak. MoneyPuck.com only gives the Blues around a 6% chance of making playoffs and the team could be in jeopardy of missing that bar for a second straight year. Trade deadline is one week from Friday, and perhaps some deals could be made if the current skid drags on.
St. Louis CITY SC
Cold streak: Only four wins in their last 16 matches of any kind
A historic inaugural season last year ended on a bit of a dim note. St. Louis CITY SC broke the record for most wins for a first-year MLS regular season team (17), only to get swept in a first round matchup with Sporting Kansas City in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
Rewinding all the way back to August, since the MLS All-Star break, CITY SC only has four victories in their last 16 matches of any kind. That includes the last two regular seasons, playoffs and in-season tournaments.
Results wise, it seems there is a bit of a hangover from the first season highs as well. Opponents have outshot St. Louis in two of the first three games and CITY has not necessarily dominated in possession time. Then again, CITY is likely working through some early-season jitters after a first season that exceeded expectations for many in the soccer world.
Saint Louis University Billikens Hoops
Cold streak: Three wins in 15 games since the start of conference play
The St. Louis Billikens are on pace for one of their worst seasons since Travis Ford took over as head coach in 2016. They also sit dead last in the Atlantic 10 conference, a spot where they have only finished a season once since joining the conference.
Defense is usually a formula for success within the program, but it’s been a liability this season. Through Thursday, this season’s team has allowed around 79 points per game, ranking 334th among 362 NCAA teams. For perspective, the 2018-19 team that won the A-10 Tournament and qualified for March Madness only allowed 64 points per game, 22nd among 353 NCAA teams.
Ford opened up about the tough season in a recent one-on-one interview with FOX 2 sports director Martin Kilcoyne. CoachesDatabase.com, a college basketball-centric website, lists Ford among 13 coaches as to where the hot seat “is rather warm,” stating that “these coaches need to start winning now, but that may not even be enough.”
Missouri Tigers Hoops
Cold streak: Winless through 15 games since the start of conference play
Mizzou’s second season with Dennis Gates as head coach, at least on a scale of conference play, is almost a polar opposite of the first one. Expectations were a bit low heading into Gates’ first year, but Tigers finished with 25 wins and even advanced to the second round of the NCAA March Madness tournament. Unfortunately, this year’s Tigers (currently 8-20 overall) won’t be sniffing March Madness next month.
For what it’s worth, Mizzou has seen some notable turnover since last season. Top scorers Kobe Brown and D’Moi Hodge both graduated and are pushing for consistent NBA roles. Only a small handful of players, including redshirt seniors Noah Carter and Nick Honor, saw consistent playing time on last year’s tourney-bound team.
It seems Mizzou Basketball is enduring some growing pains as the team transitions from Cuonzo Martin recruits to Gates recruits. With athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois departing for the University of Arizona last week and previously having a strong professional relationship with Gates, some uncertainty looms around the future direction of Mizzou Hoops. That said, any victories to close the season would boost morale heading into the future.
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