5 lessons the Cardinals need to learn from the 2025 season

After being swept by the Yankees over the weekend, the Cardinals' playoffs hopes are seemingly squandered. In the midst of a five-game losing streak, St. Louis now sits 5.5 games back of the final Wild Card spot. With injuries to Brendan Donovan and Willson Contreras hindering the team, in addition to the presence of many other contending Wild Card teams, a comeback seems out of the question. As the season winds down for St. Louis in the final month and a half, what are some lessons that the Redbirds need to take with them leading into the 2026 season?

1. Maximize value on trade assets

It is no secret that Cardinals fans would have liked to see more in return for Ryan Helsley and Phil Maton. Furthermore, many supporters would have liked to see even more players dealt at the deadline. The Cardinals' inability to sell high on their players this season, from the offseason to the trade deadline, killed their return and it will only make it tougher to move guys like Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, Lars Nootbaar, or JoJo Romero in the future.

2. Spend, at least a little

While Phil Maton was nothing short of amazing in relief for the Cardinals this season, signing one free agent to a team that finished ten games behind the division winner in 2024 is a joke. While no one expected to bring in Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes, or Pete Alonso, the team could certainly have afforded to spend more than the two million dollars spent on Maton. Another veteran starter would have helped the team the most, but an additional bullpen arm wouldn’t have hurt either. This, of course leads me to my next point: addressing a lack of starting pitching.

3. Take chances on veterans to shore up depth, especially on minor league deals

Instead of enduring the madness that was an implosion of Miles Mikolas and Erick Fedde midway through the season, the Cardinals could have given themselves more options. Minor league deals are the best way to do that while also saving money. This offseason, there were plenty of veterans signing minor league deals, a few of whom have had great 2025 seasons. Former Cardinal Jose Quintana certainly comes to mind, with a 10-win season already to this point. Other former Redbirds Shelby Miller and Luis Garcia have had productive seasons on minor league deals as well.

4. Clear up logjams at many different positions

Towards the end of this season, the Cardinals are starting to notice a problem when filling out the lineup card: too many positional logjams. While this hasn’t been much of an issue due to the Arenado, Contreras, and Donovan injuries, it is certainly a problem moving forward. The Cardinals have already moved Alec Burleson and Jordan Walker to the outfield despite more experience in the infield. Now the answer is to make Ivan Herrera a corner outfielder? I’m not too sure about that solution. More spots need to be open in the lineup for these guys, and I believe you do that by offloading veterans.

5. Stop giving out no-trade clauses

It would be great to offload veterans like Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras. Oh wait, we don’t have the freedom to do so. Now that John Mozeliak is on his way out, hopefully this means the end of giving out no-trade clauses to so many players, many undeserving. While Nolan Arenado’s clause was given to him by the Rockies, Mozeliak remains on the hook for the Miles Mikolas, Sonny Gray, and Willson Contreras clauses in addition to poor no-trade clauses given out in the past. In limiting these clauses to perennial MVP candidates only, the team will be able to offload whom they need to, whenever they want to.

Although I’m confident in Chaim Bloom’s ability to turn this team around, I’m afraid that poor decisions made this season have made his job even tougher. Cardinals fans are fed up, performance is mediocre, and ownership has yet to prove that they want to compete. A good 2026 season of transactions from Bloom is exactly what the team needs. Furthermore, fans need to see the front office moving in the right direction before they return to support.