St. Louis Cardinals manager Oli Marmol is channeling his inner Mike Shildt by relying heavily on veterans to drive the team to an improbable playoff berth.
Mike Shildt has almost gained martyr status among many St. Louis Cardinals fans. Shildt, the team’s manager from 2018 to 2021, was in charge as the Cardinals went on their best winning streak in team history, racking up 17 consecutive victories in September to enter the playoffs. Despite the team’s unprecedented achievement, Shildt was sacked after the season, with President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak citing “philosophical differences” as the cause.
The Cardinals need another hot streak to win a postseason position in 2024, and when it comes to lineup construction, manager Oli Marmol is employing a tactic identical to that of his predecessor when the Cardinals went on their incredible run in 2021.
Shildt relied heavily on older players during his time in St. Louis, starting them even when they underperformed for long stretches. Now that Nolan Gorman has been relegated to Memphis, Tommy Pham appears to be in line for a larger role as Brendan Donovan moves to second base, and it would not be shocking if Pham receives more playing time down the stretch than Victor Scott. The Cardinals are also intending to give Matt Carpenter additional plate appearances rather than bringing Jordan Walker back up.
The Cardinals are foregoing the concept of clearing a 40-man roster slot to promote Thomas Saggese, instead going with Jose Fermin, who has major league experience but has demonstrated little in terms of batting at the highest level.
Marmol was the Cardinals’ bench coach throughout Shildt’s tenure, and given the team’s grave circumstances, it’s reasonable that Marmol would adopt this approach with his lineup in the hopes that lightning strikes twice. However, it is worth considering whether the likelihood of making the playoffs is too remote to justify delaying younger players’ opportunities to gain further exposure to the major leagues.
Shildt’s gamble with the veterans paid off as the 2021 season concluded. As the Cardinals enter full panic mode, Marmol will try to conjure up enough old-time devil magic to duplicate his spectacular run in ’21.
