Cardinals fans robbed of rightful Brendan Donovan tribute after frustrating news

When Brendan Donovan was traded to the Seattle Mariners in February, St. Louis Cardinals fans reacted with sorrow. Donovan was the club's lone remaining All-Star at the time, and his departure was perhaps the final sign of a full-blown rebuild for the organization. While the Cardinals received some tantalizing prospects in return for Donovan, it was a bittersweet goodbye for many fans, players, and people within the organization.

After grieving Donovan's departure, fans began focusing on when they could give him a classic Busch Stadium standing ovation. Luckily, it was the Mariners' turn to visit St. Louis. Seattle would visit St. Louis April 24th through April 26th, thus giving fans an opportunity to welcome a fan favorite player back to St. Louis.

Donovan is off to a hot start to the 2026 season. He's played primarily third base for Seattle, and he's been as reliable as ever at the hot corner. He also has a .304/.437/.518/.955 slash line with three home runs and eight runs batted in for a 180 OPS+. He's been a potent contributor for a Mariners team with postseason aspirations.

Unfortunately, Brendan Donovan has been placed on the Injured List, and he'll miss Seattle's visit to St. Louis this upcoming weekend.

St. Louis Cardinals fans won't be able to welcome Brendan Donovan back to St. Louis due to an injury to the All-Star.

Donovan was placed on the 10-day Injured List retroactive to April 18th due to a left groin muscle strain. Donnie left a game over the weekend against the Texas Rangers due to left hip tightness, and he was out of the lineup on Sunday as well. Donovan had already dealt with right groin discomfort two weeks ago.

According to Daniel Kramer of MLB.com, Donovan did suggest that his first groin issue could have been related to the sports hernia surgery he underwent this past offseason. Mariners manager Dan Wilson concurred with Donovan's assessment.

“It's something that you have to closely monitor and keep watching on,” Wilson said. “It's a big surgery, and he did a great job of getting through it, getting to Spring Training and the slow ramp-up in Spring Training. And now we're into the season. So it's just continued monitoring.”

The sports hernia was the cause of Donovan being shut down late in September last year. Altogether, Donovan played in only 118 games, the second-lowest total of his career. He did, however, accumulate 2.7 bWAR last year due to his efforts on the offensive and defensive sides of the game.

Donovan's placement on the Injured List will keep him out until at least April 28th, and he'll miss Seattle's road trip to St. Louis next weekend. This is disappointing for the Cardinals faithful, as they've been looking to welcome back their grind-it-out super utility Gold Glover and All-Star.

It's not clear how long Brendan Donovan will be off the field or whether he'll still travel with the team while on the IL. Cardinals fans can still hold out hope that Donnie will make a cameo appearance with the lineup card prior to one of the weekend games.

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