ST. LOUIS—The end of an era almost a year in the making reached its public-facing conclusion Monday, as John Mozeliak held his final news conference as president of baseball operations for the St. Louis Cardinals, one day after the team finished the 2025 regular season with a loss to the Chicago Cubs. For the second time in three seasons, the club finished with a record below .500 and out of the playoffs.
As the team announced last fall, Chaim Bloom will succeed Mozeliak. Bloom and team ownership will address the media Tuesday morning.
On Monday, Mozeliak said he was leaving with no regrets and is optimistic about the future for the organization, and for the city of St. Louis.
Despite not being eliminated from playoff contention until the last week of a season that had been advertised ahead of time as one that would be focused on answering player development questions for the future over present-day standings. It meant that at the July 31 trade deadline, the team dealt away all its pending free agents–relievers Ryan Helsley, Phil Maton and Steven Matz–to accumulate future assets.
“Arguably you could say we could have done more but we were still trying to thread that needle as best we could,” Mozeliak said. “I think it was the right decision to do what we did I think the acquisitions and some of the young talent we received is going to bode well for the organization and ultimately future roster decisions.”
He added that there was nothing compelling enough offered at the time that would have warranted adding present-day assets to make a playoff push over the final two months of the season.
Some questioned how this final season would function, with Bloom as the heir apparent and making further evaluations of the team’s infrastructure and front office hires who will shape it in the years ahead, as Mozeliak continued to lead the day-to-day operational side. Mozeliak said Monday it wasn’t much different than past years. There were weekly meetings with Bloom, and Mozeliak did less travel across the franchise’s minor league footprint.
The season itself, with all the talk of “runway” for younger players to stake a claim for the future, didn’t reveal the answers as clearly as Mozeliak and then rest of the front office wanted. It will be Bloom’s regime’s job to address what happens next, with a farm system that’s seen a recent injection of talent thanks to the past two drafts, and an international system that is poised to bear fruit.
Mozeliak insists he’s leaving the franchise he’s been a part of for 30 years and 18 as president, in good shape, with optimism for the city’s future.
“With the investments that our happening downtown I think everybody should be excited about where this city is headed,” he said. “If we can get people to feel safe and wanting to come back down here and re-engage I think that’s where the Cardinals will take that step forward.