Are the St. Louis Cardinals making a final push? This past weekend, the team won two of three games against the Minnesota Twins to move back to.500. At 65-65, their postseason chances are dim, but not nonexistent.
The Cardinals’ chances in the NL Central are all but gone, trailing the first-place Milwaukee Brewers by 10.0 games, but their 5.0-game deficit in the NL Wild Card race is more manageable. They’ll need to play near-perfect baseball down the stretch to have a chance, as indicated by their 3.6 percent chance of making the playoffs according to FanGraphs, but everything is possible.
Whether or not the Cardinals have a run in them, there’s a lot of stuff to cover as the regular season winds down and the offseason approaches. Here’s the most recent Cardinals news for your amusement.
Mike Schildt returns to St. Louis for crucial series
The Cardinals have played three consecutive series against clubs in postseason contention, and things will only get tougher with the red-hot San Diego Padres to town. The Padres currently occupy the second Wild Card place in the National League and have gone 24-9 since the All-Star break, while dealing with several injuries.
This week, the Cardinals will face not just a powerhouse Padres team, but also their former manager, Mike Schildt, who is returning to St. Louis for the first time since being let go.
Schildt managed the Cardinals for parts of four seasons and had a great deal of success, with a record of 252-199. He was fired following the Cardinals’ 90-72 season, in which they made the playoffs thanks to a hot September. It came as a great surprise, and after witnessing what Schildt has done in San Diego and Oli Marmol has done in St. Louis, Cardinals supporters have reason to be concerned.
To build on their recent momentum, the Cardinals will need to provide a strong effort against Schildt’s Padres.
Cardinals should strongly consider Blake Snell pursuit
Last offseason, the Cardinals’ major goal was to add starting pitchers. They did it with Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn, and Kyle Gibson. Their staff has performed admirably at times this season, but they are 23rd in the majors with a 4.46 ERA. That will have to improve next season.
Blake Snell, a guy who should have been on the Cardinals’ radar last offseason, will most likely be available this offseason if he opts out of his contract. If that’s the case, the Cardinals should be all over it.
Snell got off to a poor start after signing late and missed some time this season due to injury, but he now has a 3.76 ERA in 15 appearances and an eye-popping 1.30 ERA in his last nine. He’s looked like the pitcher who won the NL Cy Young Award last season since returning from the IL in early July, and there’s every reason to assume that if the offseason goes as planned, Snell will be excellent in 2025.
He’ll be costly, but the Cardinals will be shedding significant amounts of cash this offseason, with players like Lynn, Gibson, and Paul Goldschmidt due to hit free agency at the end of the season. For a team in dire need of starting pitching like St. Louis, there really is no need to pass on Snell.
Oli Marmol might finally be seeing the luck turn in his favor
Several things the Cardinals could not have foreseen have gone wrong this season. Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, both frequent MVP candidates, have seen their stats collapse. Tommy Edman didn’t play a single game due to injuries before being traded to the Dodgers. Willson Contreras has been on the injured list twice due to significant injuries. Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker battled so much that they were sent down to the minors. Even Miles Mikolas has been basically terrible.
The tip of the iceberg was their hotel mishap, which forced several players to wake up very early and leave their rooms before Sunday’s game.
Finally, the Cardinals’ fate turned in their favor with a win in Minnesota on Sunday. A critical error by Twins second baseman Edouard Julien paved the way for Lars Nootbaar to hit one of the Cardinals’ biggest hits of the season so far.
“I love this one. We took it from them, to be honest,” Cards manager Oliver Marmol remarked. “They were doing a great job. They have some tough arms. “And you’re just grinding the entire game.”
The Cardinals completely stole this game. Marmol even admitted this. To win in Major League Baseball, you sometimes have to be lucky, and the Cardinals were quick to capitalize on a rare Twins mistake. Cardinals fans can only hope that this thrilling victory will propel them to an unlikely postseason appearance.
