Oli Marmol gets blunt about the team's offensive struggles following latest blunder

The St. Louis Cardinals lost to the Toronto Blue Jays last night in extra innings. Despite Erick Fedde pitching five decent innings, the bullpen allowing just one run in a little over five innings of relief, and rookie Thomas Saggese hitting his first career home run, the team was unable to get the win.

The main issue last night, as it has been all year, was the team's inability to hit with runners in scoring position. The Cardinals stranded 12 runners, and they went 2-19 with runners in scoring position. Manager Oliver Marmol was blunt in his post-game remarks about the team's output with runners on second and third base.

"We had opportunities, but you don't deserve to win when you go 2-for-19 with runners in scoring position. The theme of our season, the inability to drive the baseball with runners in scoring position, has been a topic of conversation."

Oliver Marmol

These issues, as Marmol stated, have been present and detrimental all year. The Cardinals rank 28th in the league in team OPS with runners in scoring position at just .639; they outpace only the Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago White Sox. They're 29th in slugging percentage, 27th in on-base percentage, and 28th in batting average in these situations.

Last night, the team's only hits with runners in scoring position came by Nolan Arenado in the first inning. He singled with the bases loaded and scored Masyn Winn. The other hit came in the same inning Thomas Saggese singled to right field to score Alec Burleson. Nolan Arenado was thrown out at second because he had to wait to see if the ball would be caught by the second baseman. Those were the only two hits with runners in scoring position that the Cardinals would have.

The Cardinals' issues with runners in scoring position is no longer a fluke thing or something that the team will "grow out of". It's become a true issue, and if they intend on competing next year, these issues need to be addressed in the offseason. Whether it be firing Turner Ward, changing hitting philosophies and approaches, or simply acquiring batters who thrive in those situations, the Cardinals need to fix them this offseason.