ST. LOUIS — For the first time in a long time, St. Louis Cardinals fans are about to enter the stretch run with the team out of playoff contention. There have been seasons in the past decade in which the Cardinals missed the playoffs, but the teams weren’t bad from the jump. The 2023 team started with a rough patch, and they never recovered.
It’s an unfamiliar feeling for the fanbase, who hadn’t experienced a season this bad since 1990 when they finished 70-92 in the NL East and were 25 games behind first-place Pittsburgh Pirates. The 2023 Cardinals are in last place in the NL Central, have a 49-65 record, and are 11 ½ games out of first.
But don’t fret, Cardinals fans! JD Hafron, the host of the Locked On Cardinals podcast, has a list of reasons why you should still watch the team, even without the endgame being a playoff berth.
“I thought for today; we could go through a couple of things that still bring me joy when I’m watching what is indeed a very rough stretch of Cardinals baseball because there’s no light at the end of the tunnel this season.” He added, “It’s all darkness with little spotlights of things that still interest me.”
Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt
“You should still appreciate the fact that you still get to watch Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt,” Hafron said. He added that Goldschmidt isn’t having the kind of season he had last year when he won NL MVP, but he’s still their second-best player in WAR with a 2.5. He’s batting .275 with 18 home runs and has played 110 of 114 games this season. Arenado is batting .282 with 24 home runs in 108 games and is a reliable force in the lineup day in and day out.
Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker
Hafron talked about the youth on the Cardinals, specifically Gorman and Walker. “I want to watch them progress and continue to get better.” Hafron explained, “Both of these guys have future star written all over them.”
Gorman is only 23 years old and third on the WAR team behind Lars Nootbaar and Paul Goldschmidt. He has 24 home runs, he’s played in 100 games, and even though he had a rough June, he’s turned things around lately. Walker struggled a bit in 2023 and was sent back down to Triple-A Memphis at the end of April, but he’s been back since June. He’s only 21, so he has plenty of baseball development ahead of him. He has 10 home runs and is batting .257 in 73 games.
Dakota Hudson, Zack Thompson, and Matthew Liberatore
The Cardinals traded away some pitching at the deadline, so who will step up and help the pitching staff in 2024? Hafron thinks it could be Hudson, Thompson, and Liberatore. He stated that all three guys will be auditioning to be regulars on the 2024 staff down the stretch in 2023, so that’s something to look forward to watching.
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