For Cardinals (and St. Louis fans), ‘yungry’ is new scrappy

Second baseman Brendan Donovan slides into home plate to score the Cardinals’ first run of the game against the Diamondbacks on Sunday, May 25, 2025, at Busch Stadium.

Eli Randolph, Post-Dispatch

St. Louis fans have forever appreciated, almost disproportionately, scrappy Cardinals.

Shorter than 6 feet tall with dirt stains? Oh, how they love them so. From Pepper Martin to Jose Oquendo, Dal Maxvill to David Eckstein, Bo Hart to Adron Chambers, Joe McEwing to Harrison Bader. But the 2025 Cardinals, who are 30-23 following this weekend’s sweep of Arizona, are something else. Sure, there’s a bunch of scrappiness — one could even say they’re “young, scrappy and hungry” — but Victor Scott II accidentally coined the best description.

Trying to say the Cards are youthful and hungry, the 24-year-old outfielder said: “yungry.”

These guys are playing unafraid. They’ve buried the words “reset” and “transition” in the infield dirt. This year isn’t about next year — it’s about right now, playing baseball with tenacity and ferocity for this city. It’s wildly impressive. I didn’t think the Cardinals had the talent to be this good. And it’s not just the results (the club is now 16-6 in May) but also how they create the results — with some yungry baseball.

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“I think we’re a fun team to watch because I think we’re a little bit of a throwback to that more exciting baseball,” said pitcher Miles Mikolas, who’s seen his share of Cardinals teams and Cardinals identities. “We’re a little more action-packed.”

This has been the season of the unexpected. It was fair for Cardinals fans to be apprehensive in April. People did not come. And the team went 14-17 in March and April. But now, with the Cardinals blossoming in May, the fans are showing up at Busch. This past weekend, there were crowds of 34,000-plus, 37,000-plus and 36,000-plus on a gloomy Sunday that felt sunny (especially with the starting pitcher being Sonny Gray).

“I’ve absolutely loved (the crowds), and I don’t know how much the fans know how it’s appreciated in that clubhouse,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said. “… I know the last two years hasn’t been what we would have hoped for from a club standpoint and from a fan base (standpoint) being able to see good baseball. But slowly but surely, they’re starting to show up, and they’re seeing the style of baseball that they expect to see. …

“This is what this city expects — playing the game the right way, clean baseball, different ways of winning, some speed, just a combination of how it’s happening. But more so the work being put in (pregame) has led to that. Our guys have done an exceptional job of sticking to a routine that prepares them well — and that’s in all areas. So what excites me the most is actually what’s happening before (games) that allows for it, in my opinion, to be sustainable.”

Marmol was ejected from Friday’s game but hurried near the on-field tunnel to listen to the crowd after Nolan Arenado’s big triple. Marmol said it was so loud, it reminded him of 2022, when he’d “hit the Albert button” to have Pujols pinch hit.

Around town in 2025, you keep hearing the same phrase: “This team is fun.” They’re fun to watch having fun. And Sunday’s experience at Busch epitomized this.

There was Brendan Donovan, helmet off, sliding into second for a double — and later in the inning sliding headfirst into home. There was a recently rejuvenated Jordan Walker whacking a hit 111.3 mph. There was Masyn Winn hammering a homer — and later scurrying from first to third on a Donovan single. There was Scott, third in the National League is steals, swiping second so swiftly there wasn’t even a throw.

And then, of course, there was Arenado, who chased down a foul fly ball, slammed into a first-row seat, injured his kidney, lost his breath — but stayed in the game. He might be 34, but even he looks yungry out there.

“Everybody is trying to go out there and give it their all,” Scott said Sunday from the winning clubhouse. “That’s the hungriness about it. And we’ve got some young guys on this team, as well. But I think that today was just the overall identity of just relentless. Everybody’s ability to go out there and compete, man, is pretty impressive. … Nobody’s throwing away at-bats.”

After Saturday’s game, the defensive stud Scott hosted an event at the store Arch Apparel, which is across the street from Busch. It was the launch of his new apparel line. The word screaming across the shirts?

So can this brand of baseball — and this level of baseball — be the norm all summer? Some of these players are overachieving (though they might just say they’re properly achieving). The starting pitching has been stellar, but one wonders if Mikolas and others can keep this up. And there’s always at least one injury to the rotation. And closer Ryan Helsley has allowed a lot of base runners and runs, while still, generally, shutting down the games. And Arenado, for all of his golden defensive prowess, now has a batting average of .234 and an on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) of .684. And his namesake, Nolan Gorman, has become a nonfactor.

I’m not going to say, on May 25, that this is a playoff team. (Maybe on June 25.)

But in the short-term, St. Louis can enjoy this likable group of guys. Some categorize as scrappy, be it Scott, Winn or Donovan (though does he count if he’s literally at 6 feet?). But most categorize as yungry.

Photos: St. Louis Cardinals sweep Arizona Diamondbacks with 4-3 win