Thank you, White Sox.
Can the Cardinals buy you a beer?
Want a double super dog from Fat Johnnie’s Famous Red Hots to go with that?
The slumping and stressing visitors from St. Louis really needed to win Tuesday’s ballgame on the south side of Chicago.
The White Sox were so wretched, No. 1 fan Pope Leo XIV may have been tempted to curse had he been watching the proceedings on his tablet in Rome.
The White Sox had their share of demon bites in this one. The home team made it easy for the Cardinals by heaving spectacularly wild throws for two errors, and failing to put a glove on cue-shot grounders and shuttlecock bloopers.
In another lapse of defense, the White Sox were caught off guard as Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras stole home for a run. Whitey Herzog would have loved it.
Cards starting pitcher Matthew Liberatore pitched with authority. It was good to see after his recent fraying.
Because of the runaway nature of a 12-2 victory, the St. Louis bullpen wasn’t required to handle any crises … but didn’t create any emergencies, either.
The Cardinals led 5-1 after two innings. That was a big change from their recent pattern of needing to chase the score for two-plus hours after falling behind by multiple runs early in games that got away.
The Cards did their part offensively in this game with 12 hits, five walks and by posting 4 hits in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position. The Cards scored 12 runs in the game after plating only 12 total runs in their previous four games.
The Cardinals came into Rate Field lugging a heavy 5-11 record since May 30 in a frustrating stretch that included a Sunday-to-Sunday “Week From Hell” that featured just one lonesome victory and seven depressing losses to the Dodgers, Blue Jays, and Brewers.
The Cardinals needed a lift. And the White Sox – a befuddled franchise with the hideous .272 winning percentage since the start of 2024 – were generously accommodating.
What Does It Mean? This series is a chance for the Cardinals to recover from an awful stretch of losing baseball. With the win, the Cardinals improved to 38-35 and have won two of their last three games. Are they stirring again? Too soon to say, but this is an important week. The Redbirds have two more games against the White Sox then return home for a three-game set with the Reds at Busch Stadium. This leads them into the four-game home series against the Cubs.
Yeah, It’s A Win, But The White Sox Stink: Sure, but what the heck is your point? The White Sox have the worst record (23-50) in the American League this season, but the Cardinals aren’t good enough to overlook weaker opponents. And if they lost the next two games (and the series) in Chicago, everyone would be shrieking.
The Cards are supposed to beat the lesser teams – so when they do, I give them credit. The Cardinals lost two out of three to the White Sox at Busch Stadium last season, and that was a historically horrible team that went 41-121 on the season.
Besides, going by current records the Cardinals haven’t exactly plastered bad teams this season. St. Louis has a 16-12 record against opponents that had a losing record through Tuesday, and the mark ranks 20th in the majors.
Soft-Serve Hitting Can Be Sweet: The Cardinals had 12 hits against the White Sox. Four of the 12 hits left the bat with an exit velocity of 81.8 miles per hour or lower. Brendan Donovan knocked in a run with a 69 mph single. Ivan Herrera drove in four runs on two singles timed at 56.1 and 69.5 mph.
Hooray for Herrera + Stat Of The Day: This pertains to major-league hitters that have played in at least 41 games this season.
Only three hitters have put together this combination of stats so far in 2025:
Batting average of .315 or higher.
On-base percentage of .389 or better.
Slugging percentage of .534 or higher.
OPS of at least .923.
OPS+ that’s 57 percent above league average or higher.
The three hitters are Aaron Judge, Freddie Freeman and Ivan Herrera.
After trudging through a cold front in early June, Herrera is 10 for 32 (.313) with a .500 slugging percentage in his last eight games.
The Burly Brawl: Alec Burleson had a homer and two RBIs in Tuesday’s win. The coolest part about that was Burly’s solo home run off of Chicago lefty reliever Brandon Eisert.
Burleson is developing into the type of left-handed batter who can do damage against left-handed pitching.
In his last 15 plate appearances vs. lefties Burleson is 7 for 14 (.500) with a homer, double and walk for a .786 slug and 1.319 OPS. Overall this season Burleson is 9 for 30 (.300) against lefties with a .433 slug.
Burleson continues to improve against all pitching. He had a 111 OPS+ in 2023, a 124 OPS+ last season, and a 120 OPS+ in 2025. That latter figure means he’s 20 percent above league average offensively so far in ‘25.
Arenado Splendido: STL third baseman Nolan Arenado extended his hitting streak to seven games in Tuesday’s triumph. It’s part of a larger 12-game stretch in which he’s hit .349 with a .378 OBP and .512 slug. The upswing includes a double, two homers and seven RBIs.
Donovan, Sunshine Superman: The Cards second baseman had four hits in the series opener and appears to be grooved back in after missing five of the previous seven games with a big-toe sprain. Despite losing some at-bats while parked on the side, Donovan’s 83 hits rank tied for seventh in the majors. His batting average, back up to .323, ranks 5th in MLB. This was Donovan’s third game of 4+ hits this season. That leads the Cardinals. And Donovan is the only NL hitter with three games of 4+ hits this season.
Deep, Deep Lineup: In the 12-2 beatdown of the CWS the top six spots in the St. Louis lineup went bonkers. Donovan, Masyn Winn, Herrera, Contreras, Burleson and Arenado combined for 11 hits in 27 at-bats (.407) with four walks, two doubles, a home run, eight RBIs, seven runs scored and that steal of home. This six-man delegation also cranked four hits and seven RBIs in nine at-bats with runners in scoring position.
Prospect Watch: Catcher Leonardo Bernal is the proverbial rising star this season at Double A Springfield. Previously known as a defense-first catcher, this St. Louis prospect has developed into a fearsome hitter.
After a slow start – a .188 average in his first 18 games this season – Bernal’s bat is booming. In his last 29 games he’s hit .369 with a .676 slug and 1.100 OPS. And his power production over that time includes seven doubles, nine home runs and 34 RBIs in 111 at-bats.
The Outside View: In the updated MLB Power Rankings released by The Athletic at the start of the new week, the Cardinals moved down to No. 18. They were 10th the week before. In the preseason rankings the Athletic had St. Louis at 24th.
Wrote Tim Britton: “The Cardinals were probably not worse than 23 other baseball teams at the start of spring, but the feeling around them was sunk by a sense of stagnation. St. Louis had added a single free agent (Phil Maton) over the winter, and it hadn’t sold off assets the way it suggested it would when the offseason began. What was left was a team frustratingly in the middle — not good enough to actually compete for a postseason spot, not bad enough to accumulate talent. And that’s kind of where the Cardinals remain now.”
Thanks for reading.
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting. You can access all of his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STLSportsCentral, catch him weekdays on the “Gashouse Gang” or “Redbird Rush Hour” on KMOX (104.1-FM and 1120-AM, and he is a regular guest of “Cardinal Territory” video show hosted by the fantastic Katie Woo of The Athletic.