St. Louis Cardinals fans excited at seeing Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado homering back-to-back: "Already in midseason form" "My two best friends"

The St. Louis Cardinals power-hitting duo of Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado are up to their old tricks early in spring training. The pair of corner infielders hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning of their game against the Washington Nationals on Tuesday.

Nationals starter Patrick Corbin served up a gopher ball to Goldschmidt, the defending National League Most Valuable Player, and then tossed another round-tripper to Arenado, who finished third in last season's NL MVP vote.

Goldschmidt, a first baseman, led the NL with a .578 slugging percentage, a .981 on-base plus slugging percentage, and a 180 OPS+ last year, while hitting .317 with 35 home runs and 115 RBIs.

Arenado, a third baseman, hit .293 with 30 home runs and 103 RBIs, all while winning the 10th Gold Glove Award of his 10-year major league career.

Goldschmidt and Arenado form the heart of the St. Louis Cardinals offense. They are projected to hit third and fourth, respectively, with newly-acquired catcher Willson Contreras batting fifth, according to Fangraphs.com. Cardinals Nation is looking forward to a whole lot of home runs in 2023.

Needless to say, the sight of seeing their heavy-hitting corner infielders going yard in consecutive at-bats has St. Louis Cardinals fans foaming at the mouth for the 2023 season to start. A few were even willing to bank a prediction after seeing the video.

But a word of caution, even with Schmidt and Arenado finishing first and third, respectively in the 2022 NL MVP vote, the Cardinals still went out in the first round of last year's playoffs.

We're not quite sure who Goldschmidt and Arenado have in their social circles. But we gotta say, pics or it didn't happen.

St. Louis Cardinals depending on Goldschmidt and Arenado

Paul Goldschmidt, left, and Nolan Arenado of the St. Louis Cardinals

As the pair of Goldschmidt and Arenado go, so do the St. Louis Cardinals. Both players came to the team in trades with squads desperate to replenish their lagging rosters with young talent.

Goldschmidt arrived in St. Louis in a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks before the 2019 season. Arizona received pitcher Luke Weaver, catcher Carson Kelly and infielder Andy Young in return. Weaver has since moved on to the Cincinnati Reds, but Carson Kelly remains the team's starting catcher.

The Cardinals' acquisition of Arenado from the Colorado Rockies was nothing short of highway robbery. St. Louis sent pitcher Austin Gomber, who is listed as the Rockies' No. 4 starter, backup corner infielder Elehuris Montero, and three other lesser prospects. Colorado also gave St. Louis $51 million to pay Arenado as part of the deal.