Draft or dignity: How should the Cardinals aim to finish the season?

Following a sweep at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays, the St. Louis Cardinals' season is all but over. This felt like the final nail in the coffin for the team. The Cardinals fell below .500 once again, and their placement in the division and Wild Card races puts them virtually out of reach of the playoffs.

This puts the team in an interesting position. Hopefully, young players like Thomas Saggese, Masyn Winn, Lars Nootbaar, and Jordan Walker will be given full runs down the stretch -- I would also like to advocate for Victor Scott II to be called back up to start down the stretch. There's a chance these young players give the team a better chance to win than the veterans do right now anyway.

The Cardinals must also think about the future beyond their own players. The MLB Draft presents an opportunity for a team to snag a prospect who can help them down the road. That was the case this past year when the Cardinals drafted infielder JJ Wetherholt. Wetherholt has already flashed great tools, and he'll be a huge player in 2026 and beyond for the team.

The worse a team does in any given year, the higher their draft pick will be. This puts the Cardinals in a bit of a pickle.

The Cardinals could aim for a winning season to salvage some dignity, or they could look to the future and try to improve their draft odds.

Let me first advocate for winning. It's always best when your favorite baseball team wins, so finishing above .500 in a year after the team won only 71 games is quite an improvement. Right now, the Cardinals are 74-75 with just 13 games to go. They'll have to win at least seven games against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, and San Francisco Giants. Given the fact that three of those four series come against teams with losing records, the Cardinals have a good chance of finishing above .500 themselves. Also, it's always nice as a Cardinal fan to say you finished better than the Chicago Cubs.

However, if the Cardinals want to improve their draft slot for the 2025 MLB Draft, one that projects to be stronger than this past year's draft, they should probably look to finish below .500. Right now, the Cardinals have the 13th-best odds to land the top draft pick. However, the Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox cannot pick in the top 10 under the new CBA since they had too many lottery picks in succession.

That already gives the Cardinals a boost in next year's draft. Currently, the Tampa Bay Rays (73-77), Cincinnati Reds (73-78), Toronto Blue Jays (72-78), and San Francisco Giants (72-78) hold the next four records worse than the Cardinals. If the Cardinals finish worse than the Giants, they can triple their odds of getting the first pick. St. Louis is only 2.5 games better than the Giants, so it's within the margin of error.

The St. Louis Cardinals need to put their best effort forward down the stretch, but if they want to get the best possible draft pick for next year, they may want to consider slipping a bit in the standings to