Benjamin Hochman | Post-Dispatch
The 2025 Cardinals — oh, the fluctuation!
Within this first half of the season, Cardinals nation has expressed both extreme infuriation or jubilation, sometimes within the same homestand or road swing. We’re confident! Wait, no, they’re incompetent! Buy! Sell! Play the kids! The kids can’t hit sliders, don’t play them! Fans and media micro-managed the manager and the president of baseball operations and even, as seen during a rainy Sunday at Busch, the grounds crew. And with some particularly crazy games and zany outcomes, 2025 has been an adventure.
But here at the All-Star break, if we pause and look at this complicated season, it can be summed up quite simply:
They were supposed to be bad, and hey, they’re actually not that bad.
And at the break, the 2025 Cardinals are actually in the playoff hunt. No, alas, probably not the division hunt — and that’s caused some recent consternation. But with Sunday’s win against Atlanta, St. Louis is 51-46 and 1 1/2 games out of the wild card.
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Many of us, myself included, thought the “transition” year (previously referred to as a “reset” year) would be a downer. Heck, not one Post-Dispatch writer predicted the Cardinals would make the playoffs.
So St. Louis should be appreciative of the work done by manager Oliver Marmol and his staff. And some of the players picked by president of baseball operations John Mozeliak (Chaim Bloom takes over in the fall) are, well, in bloom. I’ve been hard on Mo, but his club has overachieved in 2025 — so far anyway.
“I know that it all goes back to the work that’s being put in,” Marmol said Sunday. “The commitment of the staff — and the players being extremely receptive to feedback and growth, constantly, every day. And when you put those things together, it leads to guys getting better. And because of it, the results have been some wins.”
And in the 12 games leading up to the trade deadline, the Cardinals play one series against wild-card contender San Diego and three series against beatable teams under .500 (the Diamondbacks, Rockies and Marlins).
So it’s hard to see them trading Ryan Helsley (or even Steven Matz or Phil Maton) because these are key guys of a possible playoff bullpen.
OK, but should the Cardinals be all-in buyers? No, the organization is not in a spot to trade prospects — except, arguably, at the catcher position, as it’s quite deep.
But a move for a right-handed bat is intriguing.
At a recent postgame news conference, Marmol was asked about the opposing starter. Marmol sort of sighed and said: “He’s left-handed. They’ve just given us trouble. There’s no secret to (that).”
Though, on Sunday here at Busch, the Cards did add a righty bat to their lineup. Ivan Herrera returned from his hamstring injury — he promptly smacked a single, stole a base, took a walk and stole another base. Herrera is a stud. The 25-year-old entered the day hitting .320 with a .925 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS). Sure, his only current position is designated hitter, but he’s a destructive hitter. Other Birds who have broke out this year include first-time All-Star Brendan Donovan (who entered Sunday as the league leader in hitting at .297), Alec Burleson (.798 OPS) and Nolan Gorman, who has found his groove of late, with an .841 OPS in his past 33 games entering Sunday.
“They’ve taken that next step in their career,” Marmol said, “and that’s our job — to create a plan and the framework for them to be able to do that, and at times, find a way to expedite that process. And I feel like a lot of guys are in that bucket that we’re seeing a lot of growth in, and then there’s other guys, that although we’re not seeing it this second, I think what’s in place will allow for it — like (outfielder Victor Scott II), some others. I’m excited about the future, I am.
“Like, when you really start to break down the year and you take all emotions out of it — because it’s hard because you constantly have to evaluate, ‘Oh, is it a good team? Is it bad?’ — but if you just remove all of it and start looking at projections and then performance and then who’s underachieving, who’s overachieving, who’s on schedule, who’s not, what you’re getting out of each guy, then it’s actually a pretty good spot. When you start breaking down each guy and where we think they should be or project them to be — and then the plan in place moving forward — there’s a lot of positives.”
As for the St. Louis defense, per Baseball Savant, the Cardinals lead Major League Baseball with 35 outs above average and 27 runs prevented. They are 13th in the defensive runs saved metric, thanks notably to Scott in center and Masyn Winn at short.
And on the mound, well, it’ll be a bumpy ride on the bump. But there are some cracks starting to show. Michael McGreevy, surely, will be in the rotation soon. Overall, St. Louis has the 20th-best ERA in baseball (4.12), though its bullpen is 13th-best. In fact, only Red Sox relievers have allowed fewer runs than Cardinals relievers.
Here at the break, the boys will all take a rest (except, of course, for Donnie). And then get ready for the most-important stretch of a season that was supposed to be over before it started. Here’s thinking the Cards win a bunch in July.
Post-Dispatch sports columnists Lynn Worthy and Jeff Gordon discuss the struggles of starting pitcher Erick Fedde and how the Cardinals will have to adjust their rotation going forward.
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