“The Cardinals, I think — obviously in (2022) it was so much fun watching (Albert Pujols) do his thing,” Arenado said on the podcast. “We were a really good team. Then, obviously, in (2023) we signed (Contreras), who was a good signing. I thought we were just gonna be good. I think the Cardinals have always found a way to be good even when, on paper, it may not look like they’re gonna be great. But we always found a way and they always did. I think I didn’t expect this turnaround to be the way it has been. I thought ’23 was obviously extremely tough. The first losing season in I don’t know how many years. … That was extremely disappointing. … It’s hard to even explain, it happened so fast. (2022) — won the division. We lost to the Phillies but we felt like we were really good that year. (2023) — going in we thought we were going to be pretty good, too. Then all of the sudden, losing season and then everything kind of changed after that.”
