St. Louis Cardinals: Adam Wainwright, Matt Carpenter practice weird ritual

St. Louis Cardinals veterans Adam Wainwright and Matt Carpenter begin a weird ritual for the 2018 MLB season.

Spring training for the St. Louis Cardinals is off to a great start thus far, with their young pitchers bringing the heat and a new swagger within the clubhouse. Expectations are high for the Cardinals squad, even though both the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers have made all the right moves this off-season.

Now, Cardinals veterans Adam Wainwright and Matt Carpenter continue to embrace this relaxed atmosphere among the squad, beginning a unique ritual, of sorts. Rivaling the “Hunger Games,” the duo is now embracing the sport of “Scare Games.”

The title is self-explanatory, where the two Cardinals goofballs will keep track of how many scares of one another they’ve racked up during the 162 slate, plus Spring training games. Wainwright’s taken an early 1-0 lead over Carpenter, where he took to Twitter boasting his first victory.

If I was a betting man, I would put my wager on Wainwright to take down the “Scare Games” crown. No offense to Carp, but Waino is the king of fun and pranks. One of the best ones to date was during Spring training of last season, where he pranked teammates Dexter Fowler, Carlos Martinez and Luke Weaver — convincing them to sing karaoke while filming them without their knowledge.

Wainwright’s only real competition over the years was former teammate Lance Berkman, who bested Waino during their prank wars, which is a rarity.

The “Scare Game” master also is known for keeping things relaxed during games, in an (unofficial) audition for Dancing With the Stars. 

With this new-look Cardinals team embracing more of a child-like love for the game, this relaxed approach will pay dividends in 2018. Generally, teams who are more relaxed and close-knit tend to play better on the field.

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The St. Louis Cardinals have their swagger back, and Adam Wainwright looks to get back to his real form in 2018. His goal is to return to his Cy Young-caliber self, but he will no doubt win the “Scare Game” title, with ease.