Cardinals' polarizing performances is the core of what this season is about

There is really no such thing as consensus when it comes to the St. Louis Cardinals fanbase.

Coming into the 2025 season, some still held the organization to the high standards they are known for on the field, accepting nothing less than a contender this year. Others were almost hoping the club would crash and burn, vindicating their frustrations that had been building for years. Most probably fell in between those two camps.

Even so, I think most fans would agree with one of the sentiments the organization put forward this winter as an overarching hope for this calendar year, and that is having conviction in who is a part of this core moving forward, and which players may be expendable or need to be replaced.

Midway through the month of June, I think it's fair to say that some of those answers are starting to bubble to the surface. The rest of this season, whether they compete for a playoff spot or not, should prioritize revealing those truths to both the organization and the fanbase.

The polarizing play of this Cardinals team perfectly encapsulates the point of the 2025 season.

Believe it or not, just a few short weeks ago, many fans were really excited about this Cardinals team. They were firing on all cylinders, posting one of the best records in all of baseball and getting up to eight games above .500 on the season after a rocky start to the year.

Brendan Donovan looked like an All-Star starter. Lars Nootbaar was an on-base machine. Masyn Winn was thriving as the two-hole hitter. Willson Contreras and Ivan Herrera were producing like middle-of-the-order bats. Alec Burleson and Victor Scott II were thriving as everyday players. Jordan Walker was finally swinging a hot bat. The starting pitching was an asset, not a liability. The bullpen was finally stabilizing. Oh, and they had the best defense in all of baseball.

Losers of six straight entering Saturday's contest, the sky now seemed to be falling for many fans. The club isn't winning games frequently like they had been. The pitching staff had regressed in a major way. The defense was leaking runs rather than saving them. The offense as a whole had taken a step back, and while a bright spot like Nolan Gorman was emerging, Nootbaar had fallen off a cliff offensively.

The ups and downs of this Cardinals team, both collectively in the win and loss columns and in their individual performances, will ultimately provide the Cardinals with the clarity they are seeking.

Take Donovan and Nootbaar, for example. If the season ended today, it would be hard to find many people who'd disagree with the fact that Donovan is a core member of the club moving forward. Not only is he set to be an All-Star this year and is among the league leaders in batting average, on-base percentage, and fWAR, but he's also one of the most versatile players in the game and a clear leader on this Cardinals club.

Nootbaar, on the other hand, would be a player that the Cardinals lack clear conviction on and, just two years removed from free agency, would be a player they'd seemingly be open to moving on from in order to prioritize other young talent. I'm not at all saying Nootbaar is a goner (or that even should be), but if things trend the wrong direction the rest of the year, I certainly see that as a real option.

But hey, there's still three and a half months of baseball left to go, and plenty of time for Donovan, Nootbaar, Walker, Gorman, Herrera, Scott, Winn, and others to make their mark or fall in their standing with the organization.

There are things the organization is doing (or not doing) that are hindering some of this information gathering, though. If they believe Herrera has a future at catcher, well, they aren't exactly getting him the reps to show that. If they don't see him in that role anymore, then they need to figure out if he is their full-time designated hitter beyond 2025 or if he can play another position.

If Herrera needs a new position, then that further crunches the opportunities on the club and makes other players expendable. For example, maybe Nootbaar does rebound and play great down the stretch, but the Cardinals decide they'd like to give Herrera the left field job long term and use Nootbaar as a trade piece. Or the same type of conversation could happen with Walker.

Maybe regression in team performance down the stretch causes someone like Contreras to want to play elsewhere, opening up first base for a different young bat. Maybe Gorman's recent success becomes a sustained reality, and he reinserts himself into the everyday lineup. Perhaps a contender makes a move for Nolan Arenado. Does JJ Wetherholt make it clear he's ready to play every day for the club by the end of the year or the start of 2026? Could Leonardo Bernal or Jimmy Crooks lay claim to the catching job?

At some point, the Cardinals are going to have to give chances to young starters, right? See what they have in Michael McGreevy, Quinn Mathews, and perhaps even Tekoah Roby.

As someone who would find it disappointing now if the Cardinals fade off team performance-wise in the second half due to the potential they showed as of late, I find the performance of individual players and their cementing as core pieces or not as a far more captivating storyline the rest of the year. Not because I'm fading on my belief in the team, but because ultimately, that has far more significance than the wins and losses this year.