The Cardinals need their offense to finally wake up against the Athletics

The St. Louis Cardinals were supposed to be a team that won games because of their offense in 2024, not despite it.

The Cardinals had a top 7 offense in baseball last year before they mailed it in during the second half (and lost Brendan Donovan at the trade deadline due to injury, as well as a number of other regulars hitting the injurest list). While there have been some standout performers so far like Donovan, Ivan Herrera, and Willson Contreras, the Cardinals' offense ranks 21st in runs scored to this point in the season, which is a major problem if they want to be a playoff team this year.

I talked about the issues surrounding the offense with Caleb Noble on the Dealin' the Cards podcast (formerly known as Noot News), and while we both agreed that it is too early to panic, the offense really does need to get things going as soon as possible.

There are other offenses in baseball who are struggling like the Cardinals even with immense talent in their lineup. The Phillies and Blue Jays have both scored fewer runs than St. Louis so far, and most fans would look at those two lineups as some of the best in the game. The Cardinals have the talent to be a top-10 offense in baseball rather easily this year, and they have the upside of a top-5 unit as well. But until their big bats get things going, it's hard to see how that will happen.

The Cardinals are set to begin a three-game set against the Oakland Athletics, which would be the perfect time for their bats to come alive. We all know how little the Athletics ownership ground has invested in their Major League team in recent years, and they've become a sweep candidate for most of their opponents. While I do think the Cardinals need to sweep the A's, I'm more concerned about the offense getting on track during this set.

The Cardinals will not face teams that are in a full-blown rebuild like the Athletics every game, but beating up on them for a series could give the offense the confidence it needs to get on track. Sometimes teams just need a big series to get out of their funks, and the Cardinals could really use that here.

The Cardinals showed signs of that in their 9-run output against the Diamondbacks on Friday, so we know they are capable of such dominance at the plate, even in the midst of this funk. Now it's time to put up some crooked numbers against the soon-to-be Sacramento Athletics and eventual Las Vegas team.