I was one of the people who bought into the St. Louis Cardinals rebounding in 2024, getting back to the playoffs on the backs of a strong offense, improved defense, playable rotation, and dynamic bullpen. Well, all of those things happened except for the offense leading the team.
We’ve beaten this to death by now, but I think these numbers highlighting the Cardinals’ steep decline offensively, seemingly overnight, are just jarring to look at. And it may be the reason this front office now has to answer for their systematic issues.
The Cardinals’ offense cratered after the 2023 MLB Trade Deadline
Going into this season, I was quick to point out how the Cardinals’ offense was a top-seven unit in baseball going into the 2023 Trade Deadline. It wasn’t all that shocking to me that the unit took a significant step back in August and September.
Brendan Donovan missed that entire stretch and had been sparking the Cardinals’ offense all season, other names continued to hit the injured list like Nolan Gorman, Tyler O’Neill, Dylan Carlson, Lars Nootbaar, Alec Burleson, and Nolan Arenado, and in general, the team had given up on the season. I believed that when the club had something to play for again in 2024, they’d get back to being one of the top lineups in the game…