2 reasons to believe in Cardinals' resurgence, 2 reasons to remain skeptical

Reasons to remain skeptical: pitching and depth

Given the recent stretch of baseball, both of these are not issues. But looking at the remainder of the 2025 season, both bring concerns. The pitching staff has been incredible given the perception of the team going into this season. Across the league, the team ranks 2nd in home runs allowed, 5th in walks allowed, 12th in team ERA, 9th in IP, and 10th in wins. The rotation seems to be stable behind a bounce back from Sonny Gray and Miles Mikolas. The emergence of Matthew Liberatore has been a welcomed one by Cardinals fans, as he looks to be a rotation mainstay. Erick Fedde and Andre Pallante have been serviceable and strong enough to fill out the rotation to give the team a chance to win every game. But under the hood, the rotation shows many concerning signs of regression. The teams ranks 18th in hits allowed, 20th in runs allowed, 18th in earned runs, and 27th in strikeouts. Even with the low walk rate and above average ERA, the team shows they can be hit off of and are one of the worst at reducing the outcome. The bullpen was of much concern to start the year and continues to be of concern. Ranking 29th overall in accumulative stats, the team has to invest in improving the bullpen before it leads to a rapid decline in overall team performance.

Another glaring concern is the depth of the team going forward. For pitching, the bullpen is already in a fragile state with not many reinforcements to back it up coming from the farm system. The starting pitching used to have many promising arms to supplement the major league roster, until the injury bug has swept across the organization. If injuries or performance hinders the team at the major league level, they are limited on options to resort to throughout the season. If a future trade to address this issue or free agent signings do not take place, this becomes the biggest issue for the team in the long run. The same can somewhat be said for position players. With the intent of 2025 being a platform year for young players, lacking in performance will not be an issue from an internal perspective. But where the biggest issue is when players need rest or are battling injuries. There is no one to back up Masyn Winn at shortstop for a long period of time. The outfield is very left-handed-bat heavy, with no right-handed bats to platoon in match ups. The roster has an abundance of catchers, which limits roster flexibility for other positions. Moves can be made to address this issue, but so far nothing seems imminent.