The Cardinals have only 45 games remaining on the 2025 docket. And these are the things I care about between now and their season’s end on Sept 28. I’ll go 11 deep on this list.
1. The peaceful transfer of power from John Mozeliak to Chaim Bloom. It’s already underway, as Bloom is focusing on potential changes to the front office and other areas of the baseball operation. I’m curious to see when Bloom will emerge from seclusion to speak publicly for the first time since Sept. 30, 2024. I’ll give him bonus points if he simply acknowledges this one word: rebuilding. The DeWitts may try to discourage him from speaking openly and candidly about the rebuild, but at some point these people have to show the fan base respect by speaking the truth instead of running head-fake moves from the hopelessly worn out Mozeliak playbook.
2. Will the Cardinals promote their prospect sensation, JJ Wetherholt? I have two answers: If they’re smart, yes. If they’re still doing things the Mozeliak Way, no. But you’d think a team that has now dropped to a humiliating 19th among 30 MLB teams in average tickets sold per home game would try to revive interest in their product. Unless those in charge of this declining franchise have completely fried all of the circuitry in their headwires, the Cardinals will market Wetherholt all offseason as their beacon of hope, their ray of sunshine, their redbird of happiness, a symbol of a new day, a source of energy and excitement, an instant dose of star power … in other words something different from the same ol' boring-ass team they’ve put in the field since the start of the 2023 season.
OK, that’s a fine marketing pitch. It’s a start, anyway. With that said, I assume the Cardinals would have the common sense to give the customers a sneak preview of coming attractions by playing JJ over the final weeks of the 2025 season. Unless, of course, they're planning to reinvent themselves as the Pirates.
3. I want to see how the Cardinals and Nolan Arenado handle a difficult, touchy and potentially controversial situation. He’s on the IL with a shoulder strain. Will he return at all this season? Has he played his final game as a Cardinal? Or if Arenado returns, will manager Oli Marmol defer to Arenado by playing him frequently at the expense of Nolan Gorman, Wetherholt, Thomas Saggese and others? Arenado is in the throes of a career-worst season, and one would have to be kind of deranged to believe he’ll rally and restore his offense to an above-average level after a three-season decline phase that continues to get worse.
Do the Cardinals want to learn more about Gorman playing third base? Do they want to give Wetherholt some time there? If the answer to those questions is Yes, then it can’t be done with Arenado occupying third base. This applies to 2026 and 2027 as well.
4. I want to see Jordan Walker in the lineup pretty much every day. That runway should be wide open because there is absolutely nothing meaningful to play for – and the most important task for the Cardinals is to make a more complete evaluation of their young players … because that could influence their thinking on the offseason trades to come. Walker was beginning to roll but his momentum was disrupted by a sore wrist and then appendicitis. To his credit, Walker has a .283 average and .741 in his first 15 games back from his illness. But: in his last five games Walker has returned to his previous form with a .222 average and alarming 42 percent strikeout rate. He has to turn that around, ASAP. And if Walker is struggling, he must remain in the lineup. Forget about the postseason, forget about a relatively meaningless winning record. Every decision made in that dugout should be made with one purpose in mind: what’s best for the future. This should be Marmol’s mission, period.
5. I want to see Gorman in the lineup every time a right-hander starts for the opposition. And this is also the appropriate period to use Gorman against lefty pitching. What the heck is there to lose? This all applies unless he gets hurt again or something. And that’s another question: can Gorman play extensively without having his progress interrupted by back pain or other ailments? This is important.
From May 26 through July 12, Gorman posted a .254 average, .336 on-base percentage, a .509 slug and a 10 percent walk rate in 139 plate appearances over his 40 games. His production included eight homers, three doubles, a triple and 22 RBIs. He cranked three homers and drove in 12 runs with runners in scoring position over that time.
And then came the back strain and a stay on the IL and even though Gorman returned to go 3 for 11 with two RBIs against the Padres, he didn’t walk and struck out five times.
6. Run it back? Again? I want to see if I can come to understand why the Cardinals would run it back with the same offense they’ve put on the field over the last two seasons.
In 2025, this group started out very well offensively but has deteriorated over time. For example, the Cardinals are 26th overall, and 14th among 15 NL teams, in runs scored since June 8 – a span of 49 games.
Hopefully, Chaim Bloom can use the remaining schedule to sharpen his focus on what must be done to prepare for 2026. And some of this obviously involves St. Louis position players that should draw interest from other teams in the offseason trade market.
Since the start of last season the Cardinals rank 9th among 15 NL teams in runs and OPS, 8th in on-base percentage, 10th in slugging, 10th in extra-base hits, 11th in walks, 12th in stolen bases – and no NL team has left more runners on base than St. Louis.
We’ve also seen this group struggle against left-handed pitching and the Cardinals rank 10th in road offense.
Of the 10 STL hitters that have logged the most plate appearances over the last two seasons, nine are still here and getting plenty of at-bats. (The only exception is the departed Paul Goldschmidt.) This has actually been two consecutive “runway” seasons for the Cardinals. Even if management won’t tell you that.
7. I want to see if Ivan Herrera becomes comfortable playing left field. The recent signs are encouraging but Herrera would be the first to tell you he’s got a lot of work to do. The idea of having him in place there for 2026 is appealing; among other things Herrera in LF makes Lars Nootbaar more expendable in a trade.
8. I want to see if Lars Nootbaar can put together a couple of good months to increase his offseason trade value. Can he stay healthy? That’s a big one for potential trade partners. And after an outstanding opening month, Nootbaar has lost his way at the plate since May 1 – batting .207 (ouch) with a .290 on-base percentage (yuck) and a 25.4% strikeout rate (bad!) in 252 plate appearances. Nootbaar’s slugging percentage has drooped as well.
9. I want to see if catching prospect Jimmy Crooks will be promoted to the big club before the end of the season. The Cardinals can’t possibly come back with Pedro Pages as their No. 1 catcher in 2026. And there is a logjam of promising catchers in their system. Some tough decisions must be made here. Ideally the Cardinals would find that ideal combination of good defense and good offense at the catcher spot.
Pages doesn’t give them that. Among the 18 MLB catchers that have at least 250 plate appearances this season, Pages ranks at the bottom with a wRC+ that translates into 42 percent below league average. His defense is solid, and he’s the team’s best catcher at throwing out base-stealers (27%.) But over time, and with the erosion of the team’s pitching, the Cardinals dugout staff may be overrating Pages’ value to the pitching staff.
I say that as one who was willing to buy into Pages-as-mastermind narrative early in the season – but that simply wasn’t logical to continue after the starting pitching suffered a glaring meltdown that began in late May.
If you believe there’s any merit in catcher ERA, Cards pitchers have a better ERA when throwing to Yohel Pozo (4.01) than Pages (4.10) this season. And the Cardinals have allowed fewer runs per game (4.41) with Pozo than Pages (4.49).
Granted, not much of a difference. But offensively Pozo gives the Cardinals a better batting average (.269) and more slug (.437) than Pages.
10. I’d like to see Kyle Leahy get stretched out and start a few games for the Cardinals over the final two months. Leahy could figure into the starting-pitching competition next spring, so why wait? I must say this again: 2026 is MORE important than 2025.
Another starter who could warrant a big-league look is one of STL’s best prospects, lefty pitcher Quinn Mathews. After an early-season shoulder issue and ensuing command turbulence, Mathews has looked better in his last four starts at Triple A Memphis with a 2.45 ERA and 29 percent strikeout rate. But he’s still walking too many batters, and I don't blame the Cardinals for wanting to take some time and avoid rushing Quinn before he turns sharper.
11. I want to see how Marmol deploys his bullpen minus Ryan Helsley, Phil Maton and Steven Matz. Losing Matz was no big deal, because (again) Matz had a 5.40 reliever ERA in his last 21 appearances as a starter. Marmol did a predictable thing by giving the first save opportunity to lefty JoJo Romero, but JoJo is the only reliever left in the bullpen. Not ideal.
It sure would be helpful to give save opps to dudes like righties Riley O’Brien, Andre Granillo and Matt Svanson. If Marmol continues to emphasize one guy (Romero) in high-leverage situations, the Cardinals will miss an opportunity to see what they have in some of the other relievers.
For example: it’s a very small sample, but Granillo, Graceffo, and Svanson have performed well in high-leverage assignments this season. And it makes sense to give them more experience in those spots. And do the Cardinals plan to take a look at Ryan Fernandez? It would be silly to write him off because he was terrible in April of this season.
There are other things I’m interested in, and I’m sure as we go along through the final 45 games I’ll have plenty of opportunities to discuss them.
Pardon my typos.
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 – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015. You can access 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 is a regular guest on the “Cardinal Territory” video show hosted by Katie Woo of The Athletic. Bernie does a weekly “Seeing Red” podcast on the Cardinals with Will Leitch.