Conclusion
The Cardinals are clearly not meeting or exceeding their projections. Injuries, underperformance from specific players, and positional irregularities have impeded the team's ability to gain any traction and put on a good stretch of games. The outfield and bullpen are clear underperformers, while the starting rotation is slightly worse than projections, and those projections weren't very optimistic to start.
Hopefully, with players returning from the IL soon, the infielders can get back on the dirt and the bullpen can get more settled. Also, the rotation appears to be pitching better in the last few weeks. These improvements would benefit the team greatly, possibly launching them closer to the lead in the division before the Trade Deadline.