The St. Louis Cardinals fell flat against the Milwaukee Brewers and got to watch the NL Central leaders celebrate their trip to the postseason over the weekend. The clinching game came when the Cardinals blew a late 6-2 lead and fell 9-8 in extra innings before hanging on for a sweep-preventing gritty win on Sunday. Without a lot of excitement around the squad for the final 12 games, especially after Masyn Winn was shut down for the year and Willson Contreras being banged up again, what storylines
can we watch for when the Cardinals play at Busch for the last week?
Arenado’s Return
It is expected that Nolan Arenado will be activated from the injured list before the series begins against the Cincinnati Reds. Whether or not you agree with this move (I personally don’t but it really doesn’t matter), it could be Arenado’s last opportunity to put on the Cardinal uniform. When he was placed on the injured list after the Trade Deadline, I figured that would be the end of his tenure but the third baseman stated he had planned to return, if able.
He went out on a rehab assignment with Double-A Springfield and, like he has done most of the season, struggled massively with the bat. While he has battled shoulder issues, Arenado went 1-10 in three games with Springfield but is expected to be in the lineup every day as long as he is healthy. In his absence, the hot corner has been patrolled by a combination of Nolan Gorman and Thomas Saggese, with Gorman taking the majority of the starts even though he has had a rollercoaster of a performance defensively. While neither has been spectacular offensively, there has been at least some progress (eye test or numbers-wise) but Saggese has shown the most improvement over the sample.
While Jose Fermin was called back up to replace Winn, he could be the odd man out again for Arenado’s activation. With Donovan back in the fold, the infield figures to be Arenado, Saggese, Donovan, and Contreras around the infield while Gorman looks to fill in when anyone needs an off day. I will be tuning in to each game and have to remember there is no use to getting upset for bad at-bats taken by Arenado with the understanding that this will most likely be the last time we see him wearing the Birds on the Bat at home. The final game against the Brewers will probably lead to many standing ovations for Arenado and it would be cool to see a moment like Matt Holliday did when he homered in his last home at-bat.
Chase for .500 (or the lottery)
The Cardinals are currently four games under .500 for the season and their preseason win total (at least what I got locked in at) was 76.5 for the year. Early in the season, it looked like this was a joke of a line but now the Cardinals need to go 5-7 to clear that line. With three games against the Reds and Brewers before finishing with a six-game roadtrip agains the Giants and Cubs. If the Cardinals have their sights set on finishing at .500, they will have to go 8-4 against those opponents. The Giants and Reds are still fighting for the postseason, so it is not like they will be facing teams full of prospects for the last two weeks.
According to Tank-a-Thon, the Cardinals currently sit 8th in the MLB lottery, but just 3.5 games separate them from moving up to 5th, where the odds of a first overall pick “skyrocket” to 6.34%. I, for one, never condone tanking as I always want my team to win, but if the team happens to lose, then so be it, I guess. I understand the strategy more for football and basketball where those draft picks are expected to contribute ASAP, but in baseball, that is still a rare occurrence, even with some top picks making their major league debuts within a year. The Cardinals may be too far away from contention (or just too far behind their division mates), to have to push any 2026 draft prospects that quickly, but I can say I am excited for the aggressive push they have made with Liam Doyle to end this season.
Last chance call ups?
Honestly, the 40-man roster remains boring, even with the addition of Jimmy Crooks. Once the team continued to strike down any calls for adding JJ Wetherholt to the roster and shut down Masyn Winn, there was not much to be excited about to take a spot with the big league Cardinals. Healthy players on the 40-man who are not currently on the MLB roster are outfielders Michael Siani and Matt Koperniak, infielder Cesar Prieto, and pitchers Andre Granillo, Roddery Munoz, and Anthony Venenziano. This does not include Tink Hence, Tekoah Roby, Sem Robberse, and Zack Thompson who are all battling injury.
Even if a major injury were to happen, I would be surprised to see Quinn Mathews or another top prospect added to the majors for an appearance or two, although I would like to see it happen. The team does have a number of 40-man decisions to make, both addition and subtraction, so I would not be shocked to see those moves wait until the season wraps up and Chaim Bloom is in complete control of personnel.
Attendance
And finally, the yearlong story of butts in the seats. Before the homestand, the Cardinals rank 18th in the league in total attendance with just over 2 million fans (tickets sold) coming to the ballpark. The average announced crowd is approaching 28,000, well below last season’s down year of 35,872 per game. So what should we expect for the final week of games at Busch Stadium in 2025?
I think the Cardinals will be saved slightly by hosting two divisional teams in the thick of the playoff race, with the Reds giving one final push and the Brewers looking to clinch home field advantage. Last home series, the Cardinals hosted the Giants and had over 25,000 fans per game, but it was Cardinals Hall of Fame weekend and beautiful weather for games. I would still be shocked, though, to see the average attendance to drop below that number and I personally expect to see close to 30,000 in the final weekend against the Brewers. Yes, that is still well below what we are used to, but it still could show the baseball-loving fans looking to bid farewell to some long-time players and executives this weekend.
Regardless of the turnout, I can guarantee attendance will be a massive talking about over the offseason and Bloom will be questioned multiple times about how or why fans should return to Busch Stadium next year.
Bonus: Oli Marmol
We won’t get any clarification on this during the homestand, but I still think it is something to talk about. Manager Oli Marmol is signed through the 2026 season and there has been little official word about his status with the team for next year. He did mention wanting to get Yadier Molina in the dugout one more time and fans have started to view this as Marmol easing the former catcher into the managerial role, but that decision will most likely be Bloom’s to make and probably clear up early in the offseason.
