Cardinals Offense is Somehow Doing All of This Damage Without Star Sluggers

Thanks to a four-game winning streak, the St. Louis Cardinals have catapulted themselves ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central, just 0.5 games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs.

Their recent success, however, is no thanks to their pitching staff. Rather, it's because of their record-breaking offense stretch. Wednesday night, the Redbirds tied an MLB record for extra base hits (eight) in one inning.

And what makes that feat all the more impressive is that, other than Paul Goldschmidt, the club is virtually doing it without a compilation of world-beating sluggers.

Outside of Goldy, manager Mike Shildt's lineup doesn't feature any names that really strike fear in pitchers. Sure, Paul DeJong belted three big flies on the night, but he is batting just .258 on the season, has an OPS of .769, and is always going to be known more for steadiness than explosiveness.

What if we told you that second-year utility man Yairo Munoz, who went 3-for-5 on Wednesday, has the highest Cards batting average (.300) for the season, but only 120 at-bats?

The highest clip for a regular (.276) is held by right fielder Jose Martinez.

If, say, the Los Angeles Dodgers made the kind of offensive history that St. Louis just did, we wouldn't even bat an eye. We'd almost expect it given their star power.

Call it an anomaly or an outlier. That won't take away from just how incredible Wednesday night's performance was by the Birds.