10 former Cardinals who could become October legends during 2025 MLB playoffs

Mike Shildt (Padres)

Well, well, well, wouldn't it be something if, as John Mozeliak walks out the door in St. Louis after sending the Cardinals into a long rebuild, Mike Shildt ends the 2025 season with the World Series trophy in his hands?

It would honestly be poetic.

Cardinals fans know the story, well, at least the sides made public to us. John Mozeliak fired Mike Shildt from his duties as the Cardinals' manager following the 2021 season, citing "philosophical differences" as the reason why. Now, Mozeliak and writers covering the team have indicated that there were some deeper issues beyond a disagreement between Mozeliak and Shildt, including some issues with how the former Cardinals manager treated other team employees.

Regardless, it's hard to argue with the resume Shildt is building in San Diego. His first two seasons at the helm of the Padres' dugout were 90+ win seasons, and he barely lost to the Dodgers in the NLDS and is now looking to take the Padres on a deep postseason run.

Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Jackson Merrill, Xander Bogaerts, and Luis Arraez lead a Padres' lineup that was mostly dissapointing this year but still has plenty of talent to do something special this October. They have star power and great supplemental pieces, and it's easy to see how they could be a force to be reckoned with this year.

The Padres also have good talent in their rotation, as Shildt can turn to Nick Pivetta, Dylan Cease, Michael King, Yu Darvish, or JP Sears for any of their games this postseason. Like the offense this year, it hasn't been the most productive group by any means, but there is a ton of talent there.

But the area where managers tend to influence the game the most is also the group that is most exciting on this Padres roster, and that is their dynamite bullpen. Led by Robert Suarez, Mason Miller, and Adrian Morejon, all three of those guys boast sub-3.00 ERAs this year, and along with arms like Jeremiah Estrada, Wandy Peralta, and David Morgan, Shildt has a ton of weapons he can turn to in order to shut down games this October.

It's truly a special bullpen that A.J. Preller has built in San Diego, and if Shildt deploys it well, they could be World Series champions this year.