Are you ready Cardinals fans? It's time to fly

In the blink of an eye, it's August. Exactly two-thirds of the season is officially complete. The St. Louis Cardinals sit at 56-53 and stare at a remaining 53-game schedule that includes 6 games against the NL Central-leading Brewers. Two games against the Royals, and three games each against the Guardians, Yankees, Dodgers, and Twins. It won't get much easier and, well, help isn't on the way anymore, unless from within. For the Cardinals clubhouse, fans, and all spectators alike, it's go time. This is the team they have to compete with. It's done.

The Cardinals made a few moves before the 6 pm EST/ 5 pm CST trade deadline on July 30th. Waiting until the 29th to strike for their first move. They sent long-time Cardinal Tommy Edman to the LA Dodgers in part of a 3-team trade that saw them land SP Erick Fedde and journeyman OF Tommy Pham a return to St. Louis. Then, in the hour leading up to the deadline, the Cardinals found a home for their struggling 25-year-old OF Dylan Carlson by sending him to Tampa in exchange for relief pitcher Shawn Armstrong.

Now, these weren't the flashiest of moves but the Cardinals did receive national attention and praise for their work at the deadline by checking all the boxes they needed, and not giving up much to get it. Not to mention the market for starting pitching was both very thin and expensive. To land Erick Fedde, who was viewed by some as a top-3 pitcher to be moved at the deadline, is a bold move by the Cardinals front office that says "Let's win some games". That's exactly what is needed

The St. Louis Cardinals are a historic franchise. They are a historically winning franchise according to former Cardinals legend Adam Wainwright ( You can listen to that below.)

The problem is, it's been a while since the Cardinals have had a true Cardinals winning season. Last season on August 1st the Cardinals were 47-61. A historically bad season. They haven't won a playoff series since 2019 in which they were 86'd by the Nationals in the NLCS. The point is fans are starving for some October baseball. The chatter has been loud all around. "Fire Mo!" "Fire Oli!" "Trade Arenado" " Trade Helsley" Fill in your blank. You can feel it in the air that the thirst and longing for winning baseball is real.

So, win. You got your pitcher (Fedde), the bullpen (Armstrong), and RH bench bat in Pham. Words of "Togetherness" and "One team" have been echoing through the halls of the clubhouse at Busch all season, and most recently from, that, Tommy Pham. At the beginning of the season, Oli made a point that he wants players that "want to be here". Pham wanted to be here according to reports from Jeff Jones. All the way back to spring training he was pushing for a reunion. Well, now that he is here and got what he wanted. He's hitting and the team just seems excited.

Sure Lance Lynn is going to be out a few weeks with a right knee injury now, but with the incredible "spot start" from Rookie Michael McGreevy making his MLB debut makes you feel a little bit better.

So, with a weekend series at Wrigley and the remaining of the schedule ahead, let's go. Strap in if you're watching or following along because this is the most exciting time of the year for baseball fans. The playoff push. This year the Cardinals have a team capable of making it there but it will take "togetherness" and playing as "one team". Take it series by series, game by game, pitch by pitch. One day at a time and enjoy the home stretch.