ST. LOUIS — The home clubhouse at Busch Stadium was quiet late Sunday afternoon, minus the sounds of shower shoes squeaking on bathroom tile and sneakers shuffling out of the room. Muted voices from players’ interviews represented the only type of conversation taking place, and even then, the discourse was minimal.
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What was there to say? The Cardinals had dropped their rubber-match game to the Reds 4-3. Jordan Hicks entered a tie game in the top of the eighth inning and promptly walked Elly De La Cruz, who has less than a week of major-league service time but could already be the fastest player in the big leagues. It was Hicks’ league-leading seventh leadoff walk of the season, and it came back to bite him and the Cardinals almost instantaneously. A groundout and a passed ball advanced De La Cruz 180 feet before he scored the game-winning run on a groundball that never made it past the infield grass.
Don't even know what to say at this point… pic.twitter.com/spUIm25y6P
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) June 11, 2023
But at this point in the season, the Cardinals’ woes expand far past another late-inning free pass. After winning the first of a three-game set, St. Louis dropped a pivotal division series against the Reds. The Cardinals have failed to win their past six series. They are 12 games under .500, firmly planted in last place in the National League Central. They have searched tirelessly for solutions to their spiral. Nothing has sparked. If anything, their distressing quest for answers has only led to more questions.
As their season approaches potential derailment territory, the Cardinals are tasked with doing what feels impossible. The overall consensus — from pitchers to players to management — is that they must play perfect baseball. That’s a daunting ask for any team, even the ones that lead the standings. But for St. Louis, it’s simply a reality.
“We have to be perfect to win right now,” manager Oli Marmol said. “It feels like we can’t make a mistake because the other team has found a way to capitalize on it every time. We can’t give up extra outs or a leadoff walk — we have to execute better than that.”
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“Everybody’s feeling like they have to be perfect,” Adam Wainwright concurred, after allowing three runs in 5 2/3 innings and being saddled with the no-decision. “Pitchers feel like they can’t give up any runs. Hitters feel like they’ve got to drive in runs. And when you’re constantly focused on that, it takes the focus off of executing and performing.”
Perhaps no better stat exemplifies that than the Cardinals’ performance with runners in scoring position. Throughout the series, St. Louis hitters went 2-for-22 in that situation and left 25 runners on base. Whether it was manufacturing a run with small ball, incorporating situational hitting or slugging the ball, the Cardinals failed to generate momentum with runners on base.
“Just not very good,” said Nolan Arenado, who went 5-for-11 on the series with two home runs and a triple, a bright spot for the offense. “I don’t know how else to describe it. Last year, we found ways to win. This year, we’re finding ways to lose. That’s the biggest difference right now. It’s up to us to make a change.”
“Every time we make a mistake, somebody capitalizes on it,” he added. “You feel like you have to be perfect because they keep capitalizing on them.”
Sensing a theme here?
Marmol didn’t deny the Cardinals’ poor production in scoring situations but indicated there’s nothing glaring about the approaches hitters are using at the plate.
“From an approach standpoint, there’s nothing you can point to that’s out of the norm,” Marmol said. “I will say, when you’re in the hole as much as we are and you’ve had stretches of games that don’t look good and you’re trying to get out of it, there might be added pressure to be the one to do it. But from an approach standpoint, I feel like I trust our guys and the way they’re going up to the plate. We just haven’t come through.
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“It hasn’t been good. I think we’ve all pointed that out. That’s the difference between where we want to get to and where we’re at. Our ability to actually come up with a big hit with runners in scoring position and then add on and continue to build off that momentum … we have to find a way to do that. If we’re going to get out of this and actually start playing good baseball, we’re going to have to start driving in some runs in those situations, bottom line.”
But given the Cardinals’ overall body of play, what good does it do to blame one area on underperformance? The Cardinals are one defeat shy of their 40th loss. They’ve played 66 games. Their season has been a massive disappointment, seemingly from the jump. The roster has fallen short of expectations, and if their trajectory doesn’t change, there’s a risk that everything unravels.
“We’re all very upset about how things are going,” Wainwright said. “We keep showing up and expecting it to be different, and it keeps not being different. … The only common denominator we have is that we find ways to lose. We lose in different ways every game.”
Wainwright’s last sentence could very well be the Cardinals’ moniker this season. Plenty of teams have underperformed their projections to start the season, including other playoff favorites like the Padres, Mets, Phillies and Mariners. But none have rivaled disappointment to the Cardinals’ degree.
The only remedy to the Cardinals’ tailspin does indeed seem to be playing perfect baseball. But in their latest series loss, they showed just how far from perfect they really are.
(Photo of Elly De La Cruz: Zach Dalin / USA Today)
Katie Woo is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the St. Louis Cardinals. Prior to joining The Athletic, Katie spent two years covering the minor leagues as an editorial producer for MiLB.com and spent the 2018 MLB season covering the San Diego Padres as an associate reporter for MLB.com. She is a graduate of Arizona State University and originates from Northern California. Follow Katie on Twitter @katiejwoo
