Many would say that the Cardinals are this or that in 2025 but mostly negative. But in reality, they are just ok. And that bothers people. It seems better to say that they are just not good at all. That they’re not worth watching, or showing up for. Some blame the management, or the manager. Some just find all of the players boring. But they’re not trying hard enough. This isn’t a boring team.
It’s a maddening, confounding, everchanging shuffle. Do the Cardinals shuffle. That’s what fans have been
doing. It’s just easier to say they suck.
They’re fine. No, they’re not fine. They may do it, or probably not. Quarky. Not quirky so much, but quarky. They are the reality we face. It’s entertaining, until it isn’t. What’re you gonna do? Complain about it?
I suppose it’s easier to complain about our entertainment than our own lives. Because then we sound like we need therapy, or even HELP. Do we need it? Yes, we need therapeutic measures. And we need community. But many of us won’t be getting therapy from baseball with a team that provides no stability.
As a Bears fan, I quit watching football long ago. So I know what it feels like to be a fairweather fan. Honestly I just don’t like watching football much anymore, but that’s beside the point. I won’t give up on Cardinals baseball. It’s just fun to watch. Even when it’s not that good. In my opinion.
I have survived the 90s, 2007, and 2023. Those were not good teams. But it was still fun at times.
I honestly kind of just stopped watching baseball in the 90s, for the most part… but it was easy to do back then. I didn’t live in St Louis and it wasn’t on TV very much. I was YDAFOC. Piss and vinegar. Whatever they used to say. I was a teenager in the 90s and I had just discovered heavy metal and other forms of alternative music. My favorite player was probably Pedro Guerrero because for whatever reason, he had his best games when I would watch. Joe Magrane was pretty cool too.
But those teams were worse than the last two seasons worth of mediocrity. Middling play confuses fans, especially fans of a historically VERY GOOD franchise. And in a town of tradition, you have a lot to live up to, even if just on nostalgia alone. The fans want a better team. They want at least a couple star players. Bringing in Goldschmidt and Arenado towards the end of their careers had a small window, which was occupied mostly by poor managing and failed moves. Such were the times. And now they must change.
Look at the attrition between stats of various seasons. https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/bat.shtml
To call baseball predictable and entirely skills based is just malfeasance. It’s got a lot of entropy going on. Sure skills are difference makers and can take you over the top into victory, but that is not always the case.
The Rockies have been good against the Nationals, Cardinals, and the Marlins. Go figure. They have somehow defeated the Brewers twice this year. They have a win against over half of all MLB teams. But they struggle to put it all together.
Who knows what the future holds. But at least the Cardinals strength of schedule is favorable for more entertainment. Even though it feels much like a coin toss, it’s still fun. And September is always its own flavor of the season, as things wrap up and the post-season begins. Summer winds down and autumn takes over with its blazing colors and crisp airs. At least for October.
Things have looked more bleak during the second half of the season. The Cardinals are not doing even as well as the Pirates on the position player side of the ledger. St Louis offense has been among the 6 worst teams by wRC+ at 89. Only the Reds have been worse in the second half. But they have been the worst offense in MLB lately at 88.
Pitching-wise the Cardinals are still middle of the pack during the second half. The staff’s FIP and xFIP match at 3.89 currently. Their ERA is another story, but it’s not like the pitching is as bad as the offense has been. The Cardinals are really really good at not walking batters. They just don’t have the overall stuff to back up throwing in the zone a lot. They have a high BABIP against and that’s not just bad luck. Only five teams have a K/9 under 7.20.
One more chance to win the series vs the Rockies today. And then an off day. Hopefully tomorrow won’t feel “off”, I’m not sure I’d like to be the team that the Colorado Rockies can most easily beat. Game starts at 1:15pm.
