The 2025 Cardinals have been a very interesting team to watch. There are times when they fall behind big and out of nowhere kick things into gear, punching back and ultimately winning a game that seemed to be out of reach. Such was the case last Saturday in Cleveland, when they stormed back from 6-1 and beat the Guardians.
However, by the same token, they have also been painful to watch at times. There are games in which they fall behind and you can almost sense that they aren’t going to come back and win. This is what it felt like for all three games in Pittsburgh when they were shut out and swept.
The Cardinals certainly aren’t doomed. Even after being swept by the Pirates, they’re 47-41 and are right in the thick of the race. One bad series won’t kill them, especially after being able to beat the Guardians with relative ease.
However, the offense has become a bit of a problem. Wednesday’s 5-0 loss marked the fifth time in the last week that the Cardinals suffered a shutout. They were shut out back-to-back games against the Cubs at home, and after an offensive explosion in Cleveland, they went quiet again for three straight games.
Granted, Willson Contreras had to leave Tuesday’s game after being hit on the hand, and Nolan Arenado was also out for Wednesday’s game. But there are still enough solid hitters that this team shouldn’t experience three straight shutouts. It was the first time they were blanked three straight games since the final weekend of the 2015 season against the Braves, after they had already clinched the best record in baseball.
So, what does this mean? Can they come out of it and hit like we know they can? Sure, they can. But one thing is for certain about this team as a whole. They still have yet to find their identity for 2025.
What do I mean by that? Well, compare the series in Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Sometimes, they look like they can beat anybody and overcome any challenge. Other times, they look like the Cardinals from 2023 and 2024, where when they got behind, you felt like the game was already over.
In Cleveland, they looked like a team that can do anything. In Pittsburgh, they looked lifeless. This is the reason why they still haven’t picked a strategy for the trade deadline. We don’t know if they’re going to buy, sell, hold, or mix buying and selling together. If they were consistent enough, one way or the other, we would already know the answer.
I’m glad they aren’t consistently bad like they were in 2023. Nobody should want that. I’ll take what we’re getting now over that any day of the week. And I won’t harp too much on the trade deadline in this piece, but the way the Cardinals play this month will determine how John Mozeliak approaches it and what he’ll do.
If they keep going back and forth, then who knows what they’ll do. But we still don’t know the true identity of this team. Are they a true postseason contender? Are they a fringe contender? Can they sustain their success? Or will they come crashing back down to earth?
No matter what, the Cardinals are better than we all thought they would be. As of now, they are at the very least an above-average team, and that’s nice. But this will likely be the month where we find out what this team really is.