The St. Louis Cardinals, Arizona Diamondbacks, and New York Mets recovered from poor starts to the 2024 MLB season, although only two of those teams are still in playoff contention. The Cards (59–57) have yet to advance to the following level.
Who knows if they will? St. Louis is beginning to plateau, as its momentum fluctuates in the second half of the season.
It won two games from the Atlanta Braves after the All-Star break, but then lost two games to the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals. While a series victory against the Texas Rangers was important, a terrible journey to Wrigley Field struck supporters in the gut. Nonetheless, the Cardinals re-energized them after holding off the Tampa Bay Rays on two consecutive nights.
But they’re going back down. Despite overcoming a 2-0 deficit in the first inning and leading by two runs entering the seventh inning, the team lost the series finale, 6-4. Relief pitcher Kyle Leahy walked to lead off, followed by a Yandy Diaz sacrifice fly and a Brandon Lowe two-run, go-ahead home run (surrendered by Jojo Romero). A squandered opportunity in the bottom half of the eighth exacerbated Busch Stadium’s sadness.
Everyone finds it difficult to go on from such a loss. “This is a frustrating one,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol remarked postgame, according to ESPN. “I believe we played a really clean game. We had some great at-bats, particularly after giving up two in the first and then coming right back. “Sometimes baseball just happens.”
Cardinals need to seize their opportunities
Fans were eager to break out the brooms, especially after the Diamondbacks and Braves both lost on Thursday. Instead of making progress in the National League Wild Card standings, St. Louis lets another game slip away.
Marmol’s “that’s baseball, Suzyn” explanation, reminiscent of John Sterling, is not altogether inaccurate. This is as unpredictable as any sport, but the issue is that this squad is experiencing far too many of those occasions. Furthermore, it should be able to combat a large number of flukes.
Can Paul Goldschmidt, St. Louis turn it around?
Paul Goldschmidt, the 2022 National League MVP and seven-time All-Star, stepped to the plate in the seventh inning with runners on first and second and one out. The Redbirds were only down 5-4 at the time and could have equaled or gained the lead in this situation. Unfortunately, he grounded into a double play during one of the game’s pivotal moments.
Goldschmidt did drive in two RBIs, thus he cannot be held primarily accountable for the team’s crushing setback. That being said, Marmol requires him to return to being a reliable contributor. The 36-year-old is definitely nearing the conclusion of a wonderfully successful MLB career and cannot be expected to generate large numbers, but he is only two years removed from his peak season. One would hope he can still do well in the batter’s box.
However, such has not been the case for the most of 2024 (.228 batting average and.672 OPS). However, Goldschmidt is hardly the only underachiever. Nolan Arenado has only 11 home runs and is no longer as defensively elite as he was in the first decade of his major league career. Outfielder Lars Nootbaar, slugger Nolan Gorman, and the starting pitching rotation, among others, must all improve.
Oliver Marmol must instill a sense of urgency in his team; else, they will lose time. The Cardinals are only two and a half games shy of the last Wild Card spot, and they can surely catch up with the competition. They must win these types of games, however.
