5 Cardinals who are most responsible for the club's demise in 2025

The St. Louis Cardinals have officially been knocked out of postseason contention after falling to the San Francisco Giants on Sept. 24. In their "runway" season, the Cardinals acquired some valuable information about several players, and despite their disappointing finish to the year, not all of the knowledge they gleaned was negative. The Cardinals had several players take steps forward this season and show that they can be a part of the team's core going forward.

However, plenty of other players failed to deliver what the Cardinals had hoped to see and have hastened the team's lurch toward a full rebuild.

These five players are the most responsible for the Cardinals' failures in 2025.

Andre Pallante

Andre Pallante pitched himself out of the bullpen and into the Cardinals' long-term rotation plans in 2024. Through nine relief appearances at the beginning of last season, Pallante struggled, having allowed seven earned runs in 10 innings. The Cardinals demoted him to Triple-A Memphis, where they agreed to let Pallante try his hand as a starter. Once he returned to St. Louis, the results weren't promising, as his longtime reverse splits reached ridiculous levels and right-handers shellacked him to the tune of a .302 average and a .558 slugging percentage in his first five games as a starter.

Pallante eventually found his groove, holding a 3.25 in his remaining 15 starts, and he showed himself to be the Cardinals' most reliable starter down the stretch. But as much as 2024 was a revelation for Pallante, 2025 saw him backslide in nearly every meaningful category.

Pallante's results in April were promising, as he owned a 4.05 ERA in his first five starts and held opponents to a .235 average, but he fell off soon after as hitters adjusted, scuffling to the tune of a 5.56 ERA and a .277 opposing average in his final 26 starts. No longer were hitters waiting out his knuckle-curve, which was the "death ball" that he had instituted prior to the season; hitters' chase rate on the pitch decreased from 33.5% in 2024 to 20.3% this year.

The Cardinals were hoping Pallante could solidify the rotation by continuing to elicit copious numbers of ground balls, and while he still owned an exceptional 60.2% ground ball rate, his home run per fly ball rate climbed from 9.6% last year to 17.6% in 2025. Much of his arsenal and many of his metrics remained similar to 2024, but he was unable to replicate that success.

It was a disappointing season for Pallante after the promise he displayed last year, and he may not be assured of a rotation spot in 2026, even as the Cardinals rebuild. After Pallante's mediocre season, his outlook is far from the rosy picture that 2024 seemed to paint.