The 2026 schedule hasn’t yet concluded, but the Cardinals’ playoff hopes are officially extinguished. From JJ’s debut and Burley’s monstrous blast that set the tone for the season on opening day, to a group of SFA baseball players taking their shirts off and swinging them over their heads. Jordan Walker reintroducing himself to the baseball world and taking down hometown favorite Kyle Schwarber in the home run derby, and Joshua Baez’s historic debut in Wrigley, the dropped fly ball that Dane Meyers
missed in Cincinnati, and the ascension of the future at Catcher in Leo Bernal.
Although the season finishes with a flounder, rather than a fury, it’s hard to walk away from 2026 saying you weren’t entertained, you weren’t engaged, and you didn’t have fun. The Cardinals organization should feel emboldened in an upcoming offseason to push down on the accelerator and fill short-term gaps that have long-term solutions ascending through the system but still might be a year or two away. 3rd base would appear to be the only everyday spot that still remains unsettled for 2027. The top of the rotation could use a veteran leader with postseason experience, and the bullpen could use a versatile reliever with the ability to pitch high-leverage innings, in case incumbent Riley O’Brien’s consistency issues leak over into next season.
The entire roster, seemingly, was one big question mark after the franchise traded away organizational foundation pieces in Donovan, Arenado, Gray, and Contreras. Players like the aforementioned Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson, JJ Wetherholt, Nathan Church, Joshua Baez, Kyle Leahy, Andre Pallante, Michael McGreevy, and Leo Bernal positively answered questions we had about those positions; others like Nolan Gorman and Matthew Liberatore still provided answers, though in a negative light. Gorman isn’t the answer at 3rd base and has been provided ample opportunity to take the spot and run with it; he did not, so I feel it’s in the best interest of the organization to move on and let him try to succeed elsewhere. I still have confidence Matthew Liberatore can provide value out of a big-league bullpen; the strikeout stuff took a step forward, but the ability to navigate a big-league lineup several times effectively doesn’t appear to be something he can do without a big blowup somewhere. Perhaps a more targeted opportunity and return to a late-game reliever role will allow him to find more consistent success.
Since President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom has taken over at the top of baseball decisions, I have been met with nothing but optimism and future confidence in what the Cardinals’ brain trust is creating, and it led me to a unique place in my brain that this season feels a lot like an announcement that the Cardinals are nearing a return to prominence similar to Paul Revere’s revolutionary ride through Massachusetts in April of 1775. Chaim Bloom, of course, coming to the Cardinals after his time spent in Boston previously, I felt was a very clever tie-in to this metaphor.
Therefore, borrowing from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem and the assistance of ChatGPT, I repurposed the famous poem and cadence to further some of our reckless optimism as we await a long, potentially dark winter, with CBA strife and uncertainty surrounding the financial structure of the sport; the one positive of that, though, is that the Cardinals have almost no long-term or high-dollar investments tied up to the roster. JJ’s extension is peanuts and doesn’t kick in, in earnest, until 2028. So, once the “ground rules” of roster building are agreed to, the Cardinals can pursue any opportunity without financial restriction, further inflaming my reckless optimism that contention is just ahead and I proclaim to Cardinals fans, “The winning is coming, the winning is coming!”
The Prospects’ Ride
Listen, my friends, to the tale of the Cards,
Of players who labor on diamonds and yards;
When twilight descends on the Memphis lights,
And Springfield awakens beneath summer nights,
A whisper runs through the Cardinal land:
“The future is coming—it’s close at hand!”
For deep in the system, the young players rise,
With bats in their hands and ambition in their eyes;
From Palm Beach to Peoria, Springfield to town,
A red wave is rolling, and none shall slow down.
Then out from the shadows a catcher appears,
A slugger so young, yet he conquers his fears;
Rainiel Rodriguez, with thunderous might,
Sends baseballs soaring into the night.
The scouts write his name, the faithful rejoice:
“The future has found us! We’ve heard his voice!”
And down from the mound comes a left-handed flame,
With Liam Doyle bringing heat to the game;
His fastball comes roaring, his breaking ball bends,
And every young hitter discovers new friends—
Or rather, discovers, when stepping inside,
That sometimes the safest course is to hide.
Then Báez takes lumber and steps to the plate,
With power enough to make outfielders wait;
Joshua swings with a thunderous sound,
And baseballs go sailing far over the ground.
The Cardinals watch as the youngster takes flight:
“Perhaps this is one who will play here at night!”
From Curaçao’s breeze came a pitcher unique,
With Jurrangelo Cijntje possessing the mystique;
A switch-pitching story that once made him known,
Now throwing his best from one side alone.
With fastball and slider and dreams in his heart,
He waits for his moment to make his big start.
Then Quinn Mathews rises, determined and strong,
A left-hander working his way right along;
While Tanner Franklin, with fire in his hand,
Is learning to start and to command.
The farm fields are crowded, the competition fierce,
But every young Cardinal continues to persevere.
And somewhere beyond them, the newest names grow,
From the Class of Twenty-Six, eager to show;
Trevor Condon arrives with a bat and a dream,
The newest young star in the Cardinal scheme.
With Rocco behind him and more on the way,
The future gets brighter with each passing day.
So listen, St. Louis, when night settles down,
And Busch Stadium glows over all of the town:
For somewhere tonight, when the old stars have played,
A new generation is quietly made.
No trumpet announces the moment they come,
No banner is raised, and no beating of drum;
They simply keep working, each day and each night,
Till suddenly one of them steps into sight.
And then, when the call from St. Louis is heard,
The dream will arrive with a single small word:
“Debut.”
And the Cardinal faithful will know
That the prospects they watched have begun to show.
So remember the names as they travel the road—
The hitters, the pitchers, the players bestowed;
For the future is riding beneath Cardinal red,
And Springfield and Memphis are forging ahead.
The bats will keep swinging, the pitchers will throw,
And from all across Missouri, the young stars will grow.
Then someday the gates will swing open at night,
And a youngster will run underneath Busch’s lights;
The crowd will rise up, and the redbirds will fly—
And St. Louis will whisper:
“The future is nigh.”
-thanks for reading
