Adam Wainwright reflects on Cardinals' disastrous 2023 season

The 2023 season is behind us, and now it's time to look forward to the 2024 season instead.

This is good news for Cardinals fans, who experienced a complete nightmare last season when the team lost 91 games and finished in last place.

Adam Wainwright retired at the end of 2023 after experiencing his first losing season since 2007. He at least managed to walk away on a high note after winning his 200th career game and receiving a warm ovation in his final at-bat on the final day of the season.

But that didn't mean 2023 was easy for him to stomach.

In a recent interview with MLB Network Radio, Wainwright discussed 2023 and what went wrong for the Cardinals.

"Winning teams find ways to win games. Losing teams find ways to lose games, and last year we played like a losing team," said the retired right-hander. "We found a way to lose a lot of those games that we shouldn't have lost."

Waino reflects on disastrous 2023 season

Wainwright essentially hit the nail on the head.

The Cardinals were simply a losing team in 2023, and instead of finding ways to win like they normally did, they simply found new ways to lose every night.

Wainwright also gave an interesting take, defending the coaching staff, which caught a lot of blame for what went wrong.

"I'll tell you this. It wasn't the coaching staff's problem," said Wainwright. "Those guys were barely sleeping at night working and trying to figure out what was going on."

While it's honorable of Wainwright to take responsibility for what happened, the coaching staff certainly played a role in why the team struggled so badly.

Manager Oli Marmol not only gave constant scheduled days off to the regulars but also gave Taylor Motter and Alec Burleson far too many at-bats, even when better options were available on the bench.

Marmol also publicly called out Tyler O'Neill after the latter was thrown out at the plate in a game against the Atlanta Braves, which created friction between the two.

But while Wainwright is a little off with his claim that the coaching staff wasn't at fault, he is spot on with everything else. The Cardinals were expected to be the clear favorite in the NL Central entering 2023, but things went south very quickly.

The major takeaway from 2023 was that the team simply found ways to lose games that they should have been able to win.

"We think we can win every year," Wainwright stated.

That positive attitude has always been a staple of not only how Wainwright conducts himself, but how the Cardinals conduct themselves as a whole.

Recall 2011, when the Cardinals stormed back from 10.5 games in the Wild Card race and ultimately won the World Series. That year, the Cardinals found ways to bounce back from adversity and win games that seemed like a lost cause, especially Game 6 of the World Series.

2023 was the polar opposite of 2011. Wainwright was around for both seasons and can certainly attest to the differences between those two campaigns.

Wainwright is now set to begin post-playing career as a broadcaster.