Mike Shildt's shocking Padres exit coincides with anniversary of Cardinals dismissal

In 2018, the St. Louis Cardinals fired manager Mike Matheny after a 47-46 start to the season. His replacement was bench coach Mike Shildt, a former area scout for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Shildt rose in the coaching ranks to a minor-league coach before becoming a full-time manager for Johnson City in 2009. After seeing plenty of success from 2009-2011 with Johnson City, Shildt became manager of the Springfield Cardinals followed by a stint as the Memphis Redbirds' manager. He truly climbed the ladder to rise to the top, and he quickly became a fan favorite after rising to the ranks in 2018.

Mike Shildt finished the 2018 season with a 41-28 record, but the Cardinals still fell short of the postseason, finishing third in the division.

The following year, Mike Shildt inspired the Cardinals to a 91-71 record and the club's first postseason appearance in three years. The Cardinals got swept in the NLCS by the eventual World Series champion Washington Nationals, but there was certainly something brewing in the clubhouse. Mike Shildt won the National League Manager of the Year Award in 2019 for his efforts.

COVID derailed the 2020 season, and Shildt came back for the 2021 season, which would become his final one with the St. Louis organization.

The Cardinals were a middle-of-the-pack team for much of the season. They entered play on September 11th with a 71-69 record, good for third in the division. From September 11th through September 28th, the Cardinals did not lose a game; they won 17 games in a row. The Cardinals finished second in the NL Central, but they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Wild Card round that year.

Mike Shildt, despite winning only one series in four trips to the postseason, had plenty of support among the fanbase, players, and coaching staff, was fired following the 2021 season.

St. Louis Cardinals fired Mike Shildt due to "philosophical differences" with management on October 14th, 2021.

Four years ago today, the Cardinals and Mike Shildt went separate ways. The narrative that came out was that Shildt's firing was due to "philosophical differences" between the manager and long-time president of baseball operations John Mozeliak. No further details have come out since the firing, but some assumptions have been made.

This anniversary of Mike Shildt's firing comes just one day after the 57-year-old manager announced his retirement from baseball. In his letter, Shildt stated that the grind of a 162-game season took a toll on his physical, mental, and emotional state this past year. He's now stepping away from the game on his own rather than the game telling him to go away.

“But I can tell you I was sick a lot. I just wasn’t feeling good. I was run down. And I wasn’t sleeping. And it’s nobody’s fault. It’s just day-to-day stress," said Shildt, "But, you know, just unhealthy, man, and sometimes you’ve just got to take care of you, you know?”

Mike Shildt's hard-nosed, old-school attitude has turned fans and players off at times, but his 435-340 record speaks for itself. On this anniversary of his firing from the St. Louis Cardinals, we are able to reflect on his career and be grateful for his contributions to the Cardinals organization for decades.