The St. Louis Cardinals are battling for the top spot in the National League Central. One Major League Baseball insider though isn't sold on the Cards being a real threat in this campaign.

“In the end, those are two things that pop out: the lack of strikeouts from the starting pitchers and the offense having not quite enough power. There is potential here to surprise and battle the Chicago Cubs for the division, but for now, I'm not completely sold,”ESPN's David Schoenfield wrote.

The Cardinals are red-hot right now. St. Louis went 12-1 from May 4 through May 17th. The club's staff posted a 2.33 ERA collectively in that span, per the outlet.

Schoenfield is concerned about how the team's pitching will hold up long-term.

“The number that jumps out, however, is the strikeout rate from the rotation. Erick Fedde, Andre Pallante and Miles Mikolas are all averaging fewer than 6.0 K's per nine, and it's difficult to remain successful in this baseball era with strikeout rates that low,” he added.

Due to these arguments, Schoenfield is giving the verdict of not real to the Cardinals' strong start. The Cardinals are now 27-21 on the season, as of Tuesday.

Cardinals are competitive this year in the NL Central

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© Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
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St. Louis started out the year on the wrong foot. The RedBirds came out of the gate struggling to score, and closed the month of April with a losing record.

The Cardinals have found answers since then. It started with their pitching. As Schoenfield writes, the staff is doing a great job at getting outs.

It seemed to begin when St. Louis brought up pitching prospect Michael McGreevy. In just one outing, McGreevy set the tone for the rest of the rotation. He picked up a win against the Mets, working five plus innings. McGreevy also struck out five while allowing just one walk and one hit.

The surging Cardinals also have found a star in slugger Brendan Donovan. Donovan has 16 doubles while slashing at a .337 batting average. He has seven hits in his last two game appearances.

The Cards will remain competitive if they can keep winning series against quality ball clubs. In the last several weeks, the Cardinals have out dueled the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Kansas City Royals. St. Louis also swept the lowly Washington Nationals, and the hapless Pittsburgh Pirates.

St. Louis next plays the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday. The RedBirds have won eight of their last 10 contests.