Cardinals: Did St. Louis confirm Adam Wainwright is returning in 2023?

One postgame speech from Oli Marmol and a press release from the the Cardinals have raised questions about whether 2022 is Adam Wainwright’s last season.

The St. Louis Cardinals are incredible at honoring club legends, and 2022 has been a prime example of this. From Opening Day, the club began to welcome Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, and Adam Wainwright into the circle of honor. As much as this season has been about winning a World Series, it has also been about celebrating the past two decades of Cardinals history.

The organization has linked the three players together in almost all of their marketing, including a recent video series called “The Last Inning”, celebrating the careers of the three legends. Very few times has the Cardinals organization left Wainwright out of that discussion, until very recently.

First, in the St. Louis’ clubhouse celebration after clinching the division title, manager Oli Marmol celebrated the accomplishments of the club, and then specifically discussed Pujols and Molina’s final season.

"“Real quick. With Albert and Yadi announcing , you guys this is your last run, it ends in a special way, alright? It’s supposed to end with a championship.”Oli Marmol"

Then in a press-release from St. Louis on September 28th, the club announced that they would be doing a special on-field, pregame ceremony for Molina and Pujols on October 2nd to celebrate their careers. Again, noticeably missing from this statement was Wainwright.

Yes, this could be an instance of the club recognizing the duo and not Wainwright since they have officially announced their retirement, but it seems odd that they would not open this celebration up to include Wainwright and just celebrate their last ride together as a trio.

Wainwright has said throughout the 2022 season that he is not sure if this is his final season or not. Until his last few starts, Wainwright has once again been a major contributor to this club and has the talent to continue that run in 2023. Wainwright himself even attributes his recent struggles to a weird knee injury, and seems confident that his stuff still plays.

It remains to be seen if 2022 will be Wainwright’s last ride as well, but for now, all signs point to a return in 2023 being in the Cards for the Cardinal legend.