My brother has been asking me about the St. Louis Cardinals the past few weeks.
At one point he asked if the Cardinals had even won a game in spring training yet.
Well, it seemed that way during an eight-game stretch that included six losses and two ties.
I couldn't tell him how many wins the Cardinals had because I don't pay too much attention to the final score in spring training.
It's not the wins and losses that matter, it's staying healthy and the players making sure they are ready to produce in the regular season.
Well, it seems like most of them are game-ready, at least the healthy ones.
Let's start with the bandages at shortstop.
Jhonny Peralta is out at least a couple months with a hand injury. The Cardinals picked up Ruben Tejada from the Mets, but he injured a quadricep in the final exhibition game Thursday against the Yankees. Just ask Matt Adams and Matt Holliday about quad injures.
So that plan is out, which leaves Jedd Gyorko and his .196 spring training batting average.
Gyorko will start the season at shortstop, but I see Greg Garcia being a better option, just because St. Louis needs at least some sort of offense.
So St. Louis is without one of its best hitters, lost starting pitcher Lance Lynn to Tommy John surgery in the offseason, plus relievers Jordan Walden and Mitch Harris are dealing with injures.
On the bright side, the Cardinals have been here before.
They won 100 games last season without Adam Wainwright, and without Matt Adams and Matt Holliday for an extended amount of time.
Baseball Prospectus projects St. Louis to go 82-80, which would be its lowest win total since a 75-win season in 1999.
The Cardinals won the 2006 World Series after winning 83 regular season games, but that won't be enough to make the playoffs this season.
The 82-win projection is fair, especially with the unknowns entering 2016.
The pitching staff can certainly lead the majors in ERA like last season, if they stay of the disabled list.
Plus the offense just hasn't produced. St. Louis was 24th in runs scored in 25th in home runs last season.
Of course, only a few runs are needed with the pitching they have. But the future seems bright for the Cardinal bats.
Randal Grichuk, 24, and Stephen Piscotty, 25, have the potential to lead the offense for years to come. Kolten Wong, 25, also has some promise.
With them and the young arms on the mound, it gives me confidence that St. Louis will continue to collect division titles and World Series titles in the near future.
The defending National League Central champions have the honor of getting the 2016 baseball season underway at 12:05 p.m. today in blustery and cold Pittsburgh.
We may find out in the first few weeks of the season if the Central Division crown will remain in St. Louis.
A three-game series with last season's second-place Pirates this week and a home series with the third-place Cubs in two weeks will provide an early indication of where those three teams stand after finishing within three games of each other last season.
St. Louis fans will get a look at Jason Heyward in a Cubs uniform for the first time, plus a likely matchup against John Lackey in one of the three games. It should be fun.
Whether its 82 wins or 100, all that matters is St. Louis makes the postseason and can avenge last season's NLDS loss to Chicago, showing Heyward and Lackey they went to the wrong city to win a world championship.