A model of consistency for a long time, the St. Louis Cardinals are suddenly having a tough time staying important.
Even though they won two out of three against both the Angels and Red Sox, the Cardinals are six games below .500.
They bounced back from a seven-game losing streak earlier this month, winning five of their last seven games. However, they are seven games behind the first-place team, and their run differential of minus-49 is the worst in the NL Central by far.
St. Louis had a 71-91 record last year, ending a streak of 15 consecutive winning seasons. If they finish with a losing record for two years in a row, it’ll be the first time since the shortened 1994 and 1995 seasons.
The last time the Cardinals were below .500 for two consecutive non-shortened seasons was in 1958 and 1959. This is the team that let Albert Pujols go and kept on being competitive. The same team that turned an 83-win season in 2006 into a World Series title.
It’s tough to count the Cardinals out, but it’s also becoming harder to see a very positive future.
Currently, the Brewers and Cubs are fighting for the top spot in the division. The Pirates and Reds have records below .500 along with St. Louis, but Pittsburgh has several years of Paul Skenes to look forward to, as does Cincinnati with Elly De La Cruz.
St. Louis has just one top-50 prospect in MLB Pipeline’s ranking — that’s right-hander Tink Hence, who is ranked 49th and currently playing in Double-A.
Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman, and Dylan Carlson were top prospects for St. Louis in recent years. Carlson is hitting .130, and Walker was sent back to the minors after a tough start to the 2024 season. Gorman is hitting .200.
Masyn Winn, the team’s 22-year-old infielder, has been a bit better, but only the Blue Jays and White Sox have scored fewer runs this season than the Cardinals.
And that’s even after the St. Louis offense finally showed some improvement this past week, scoring 10 runs twice and seven runs twice.
