Three reasons why the Cardinals have fallen this far, this fast

Managerial and Coaching Blunders

I was one of those that didn't understand why Mike Shildt got the axe at the end of the 2021 season. I thought the St. Louis front office did him dirty. Shildt took a team that was way underperforming and sparked life in them, taking all of Cardinal Nation on a ride with them that saw the team win an organizational record of 17 games at the end of the 2021 season.

After the season, Shildt was thrown away like Tuesday’s garbage on the side of the street. Whether Shildt defied the Cardinal’s front office and strayed away from the “analytic-driven” hitting coach Jeff Albert or whether he just told his players to forget about getting any help from the front office and to go win the division, the team took off. 

Since then,  Oliver Marmol’s tenure has left many scratching their heads, leaving many to wonder if he will even be around by this season’s last regular season game. Marmol had zero managerial experience coming in, much like hitting coach Turner Ward, much like pitching coach Dusty Blake who has guided the pitching staff to the worst team ERA in the major leagues. While players have to perform, the coaching staff is the one that prepares the players to play, and on many occasions this season, the team has not looked like they are ready to play.

The entire pitching staff has been abysmal, to say the least with Adam Wainwright no doubt wondering if he should've hung up his cleats with Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols last year.

Marmol sure hasn't helped himself in the dugout though, leaving pitchers in for one too many batters along the same lines that ex-Cardinal manager Mike Matheny used to do.

Marmol also makes the same unseasoned mistakes of pitching relievers three and four days straight, or not inserting a pitcher in a game for five to eight days, often leaving them rusty and not able to find their control out of the mound. One would surely have to think there should've been a better option than hiring Marmol at the time, right? A certain skipper by the name of Bruce Bochy who has turned the Texas Rangers around in 2023 was available and would've been a better option than Marmol.