The first seven days of the Major League Baseball season are officially in the books.
Have you hit the panic button yet?
If you're a St. Louis Cardinals fan, you shouldn't have. But I figure it's about 50/50 you did.
The season opening three-game series at Pittsburgh was an effort in futility for St. Louis. It is the first time the Cardinals were swept in a season-opening series on the road since 2001 against the Rockies.
And not only did the Cardinals get swept, they looked positively negative at the plate.
In a carryover from a slow spring training at the plate, the Cardinals struck out at least 10 times in each of the three losses. Of their 87 outs, 37 came via the whiff.
That stinks.
And on the Internet, there was a cry to fire somebody, namely St. Louis hitting coach John Mabry. Because one thing the Internet is good at being a place for people to try to get other people fired.
After three games, fire somebody. I love fans.
But if the hitting coach needed to go, so did whoever is in charge of the starting pitching.
The Cardinals starters were non-starters to open the season. In a little less than 15 innings, the St. Louis threesome combined for a not-so tidy ERA of 6.75.
But as a reminder, whoever is in charge of starting pitching this year is the same guy who was in charge last year when the strength of the starting rotation was perhaps the biggest factor in the Cardinals winning 100 games.
So maybe take a deep breath when it comes to pushing the eject button when it comes to coaches who have had success in the past.
Things took a turn for the better for the Cardinals when the schedule softened with a trip this weekend to Atlanta to take on the Braves, who are baseball's lose-now-to-win-later version of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers.
In short, every team in the the majors is going to lose three in a row at some point this season. It just happened to the Cardinals at the start of the year. History shows the Cardinals know how to win and there's still six months to do it.
On the other side of the state, there's not much to worry about yet.
Championship flag raised? Yep. World Series rings make it on time for the ceremony? Yep.
If you want to search for a reason to panic? Well, there's Joakim Soria in the eighth-inning role out of the bullpen.
Soria was a top closer for the Royals a few years ago before he underwent Tommy John surgery to miss the entire 2012 season and he became a free agent.
Soria battled back into pitching shape, signing with the Rangers in 2014 before being traded to the Tigers and then the Pirates. He then signed a free-agent deal to return to the Royals last offseason.
But he's struggled this season, posting a 13.50 ERA in 2 2/3 innings heading into Saturday night's game against the Twins at Kauffman Stadium.
For a team that relies on a shutdown bullpen as much as the Royals, you can't have that.
But with Kelvin Herrera hanging around with seventh-inning duties, Soria's heir apparent is sitting right next to him in the bullpen. So the panic meter is maybe a mid-colored yellow, not a flashing red.
And then there's the possible holes at second base and right field. It may be another month or so before there's a reason for true concern.
Today is April 10. Looking ahead five months to Sept. 10, the Royals will be playing at the White Sox and the Cardinals will be hosting the Brewers. I would be stunned if either one of Missouri's teams isn't in strong contention for the postseason going into those games.
Panic, rant and rave if you want. But don't forget to enjoy watching two pretty good baseball teams.