St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday made the National League All-Star team as a starter, but he did not play due to strained right quad that put him on the disabled list on June 9. He may have had a chance to return to the Cardinals just before the break, but taking the extra days off gives him the opportunity to complete his conditioning and return fresh when the regular season resumes. In fact, that is the plan that Cardinals have for him.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Derrick Goold reports that the Cardinals intend to activate Holliday before their Friday night home game with the New York Mets. According to Goold, Holliday took batting practice with the N.L. All Stars and performed running drills with the team in the outfield before the game in preparation for his return. Goold says Holliday, during Wednesday and Thursday's off time, "intends to increase the intensity of his running... so that he can return to the lineup Friday" when the season resumes. Goold adds, "He expects to run the bases at full speed one of those days, and ramp up the effort of his runs to sprint."

Holliday last played on June 8, getting one at bat before leaving the game injured in the bottom of the second. The injury occurred as he chased Carlos Gonzalez's fly ball to left (video). He needed help getting up, but he eventually walked off under his own power.

Holliday can and likely will return some punch to the Redbirds' lineup. Although not hitting for the same amount of power as he did in years past, Holliday is hitting a robust .303/.417/.421 with 3 HR, and 26 RBI in 52 games for the Cardinals this season. The Cardinals have a .254 team average at the break. They rank eighth in the National League in runs scored with 355, but they still hold the Major League's best record. That comes in massive part due to the Major League-leading 2.71 ERA their pitching staff has and the clutch play that whoever takes the field at any given time seems to provide.

At the break, the Cardinals (56-33) lead the N.L. Central by 2.5 games over the Pittsburgh Pirates (53-35), who have won eight of 10 to surge close to the Cardinals. With the Chicago Cubs holding the second National League wild card spot (eight games behind St. Louis and 5.5 behind Pittsburgh), the 2015 N.L. Central could possibly become the first division in Major League history to send three teams to the postseason. MLB added the second wild card spot in 2012.