While most are not predicting the St. Louis Cardinals will not be a playoff-caliber team in 2026, the upcoming season is full of compelling storylines including many players who have the most to gain (or lose). There are several players who have a lot on the line in 2026.<\/p>\n
The St. Louis Cardinals with the most obvious high stakes for the 2026 season are Nolan Gorman<\/a> and Jordan Walker<\/a>. Both were given a lot of \u201crunway\u201d (there\u2019s that word again) last season, but neither impressed with their results. I won\u2019t say that it\u2019s necessarily a last chance for either Gorman and\/or Walker, but it would be hard to imagine the team moving forward with them if the 2026 results resemble what they didn\u2019t accomplish in 2025.<\/p>\n JJ Wetherholt<\/a> looks primed to possibly make the opening day roster for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2026 barring a performance problem in Spring Training. I view JJ as only having something to gain by establishing himself as a part of the future St. Louis Cardinals core. Even if he performs below the potential rookie of the year level some are predicting, I think he\u2019ll be allowed to have time to make the adjustments needed to be a centerpiece for the Cardinals for the foreseeable.<\/p>\n I think the one Cardinal who stands the most to gain financially is Dustin May<\/a>. If he bounces back from his injuries and becomes a solid mid-rotation starter again, he\u2019ll be a valuable free agent if he declines the mutual option<\/a> after the season with the Cardinals. Depending on how the St. Louis season goes, he could also be a prime trade deadline candidate for a contender if the Cardinals aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n Masyn Winn<\/a> could be viewed as a player that stands a lot to gain in 2026. For the first time in a year or two, Masyn is expected to start the season healthy. If he adds more offensive pop to his gold glove defense, he has the opportunity to be considered for a valuable long-term extension if he doesn\u2019t seek more wealth in the free agent market a few years from now.<\/p>\n Alec Burleson<\/a> is another player that could gain elevated status on the roster if he backs up his Silver Slugger performance of 2025<\/a>. He signed a one-year $3.3 million dollar deal with the Cardinals for 2026 to avoid arbitration and is set to become a free agent after the 2028 season. The 2026 season could lead to several outcomes for Alec. He could be a trade deadline target, an extension possibility for the Cardinals or cash in on a nice free agent deal a few years from now if his bat continues to improve.<\/p>\n Matthew Liberatore<\/a> has the chance to establish himself as a top of the rotation starter if he takes his game to the next level during the upcoming season. Riley O\u2019Brien<\/a> could develop into one of the NL\u2019s top closers with a great 2026 although the mild calf strain he\u2019s experienced already<\/a> during Spring Training isn\u2019t a great start. I could go on and on as the St. Louis Cardinals 2026 season is nothing if not a fertile field for opportunities. Who on the St. Louis Cardinals roster do you think has the most to gain or lose in 2026? The possibilities are nearly endless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While most are not predicting the St. Louis Cardinals will not be a playoff-caliber team in 2026, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2403],"tags":[5,160,4,673,67,65076,4311,4310],"class_list":{"0":"post-580298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-cardinals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cardinals","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-st-louis","12":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","13":"tag-st-louis-cardinals-analysis","14":"tag-stlouis","15":"tag-stlouiscardinals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116094885541484925","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}