Final predictions for the St. Louis Cardinals on trade deadline day

The Cardinals deadline moves will be enough to get them to the postseason, but how they will fare their is still to be determined

The question at the top of most Cardinals fans' minds after the Fedde/Pham trade and will continue to be top of mind after the deadline is whether or not the Cardinals will actually make the postseason. The natural follow-up is if they can, how deep can they actually go?

First, I do believe the Cardinals' deadline moves will help them make the postseason. I know things have felt icky the last week and a half or so, but even so, the Cardinals still have the best record in the National League since Mother's Day, and the third-best record in all of baseball behind the Guardians and Astros. And for as bad as July has felt, they are still just 11-12 for the month entering play on Tuesday.

It's been frustrating as of late, but they have won, swept, or split 15 of the last 21 series they've played (71%) and lost or been swept in just six series in that timeframe (29%). Almost every area of the team right now is underperforming compared to how it was when they got hot, and they are not plummeting back into the depths of struggles they had before, they are just scuffling a bit.

And at the same time, it feels like almost every other NL Wild Card contender has gotten hot. That seems to make every loss feel even bigger, even when the Cardinals are firmly in the mix like everyone else.

I believe the offense will be better post-deadline than it was most of the first half. I believe the rotation will stabilize once again. And I also believe that the bullpen will get back to feeling like a strength on most nights.

I believe St. Louis will make the playoffs and could even still make a run at the division.

How they will fair in October though? Well, we still have a long time before we know the answer to that.

How will the Cardinals deadlines moves impact the club?

Can players like Goldschmidt, Arenado, Gorman, and Nootbaar perform in the final few months of the season?

How will the rest of the National League look both performance and health-wise?

All of these things weigh into the Cardinals' chances in October. So for now, let's just stick with the fact that I believe they will be there.