With the Cardinals playing better, are John Mozeliak and Oli Marmol still on the hot seat?

The Cardinals lost two out of three to the Phillies over the weekend, and to some, this series seemed like a bit of a reality check.

On the flipside, they've still won 13 of their last 18 games, and Sunday night's win was enough to get them into the third Wild Card spot in the National League. The vibes around the team and the city are certainly much better, and it's encouraging to see just how well the Cardinals have played in recent weeks.

Prior to their turnaround on Mother's Day, John Mozeliak spoke with Tom Ackerman and made some interesting comments about his job security, as well as that of Oli Marmol.

Since then, Mozeliak has dropped hints left and right that he may want to walk away before his contract is up. It seems as though he understood that he and Marmol were definitely on the hot seat.

But now the Cardinals are playing good baseball again. When the team is winning, there is obviously a lot less pressure. Still, is it enough to take Mozeliak and Marmol off the hot seat?

Are Marmol and Mozeliak still on the hot seat?

Most Cardinals fans would answer that Mozeliak and Marmol should still be on the hot seat, and I do believe that's true. The sting of 2023 is still fresh, and the Cardinals haven't been over .500 since April 6.

Had the Cardinals kept on losing and not gotten back near the .500 mark, we might have already seen some changes by now. But they started playing better, which seemingly made change less likely. But that doesn't mean it won't still happen.

Yes, the Cardinals are winning ballgames now, and that's encouraging for everybody. But Mozeliak continues to drop hints that his time in St. Louis may be coming to an end. If anything, the recent hot stretch likely takes some pressure off of Marmol, which means that unless the Cardinals crumble again and regress back to where they were in 2023, Marmol will make it until at least the end of the season. His future would then depend on where the Cardinals ultimately end up.

But Mo's case is different. He finally seems to be reading the room and understanding that fans are none too pleased with him, even going as far as to say he gets the sense the fanbase is tired of him. He's certainly right about that.

For fans to give him any sort of grace going forward, the Cardinals are going to have get over .500 and stay over that mark for the rest of the year. They would have to win 90-plus games and make a run to at least the NLCS, and I'm still not convinced that the Cardinals are any better than a .500 team.

If they keep hanging around .500, changes could then occur. The Cardinals have been stuck in the middle for too long and can't afford to stay there. If that continues, then Mozeliak and Marmol's seats are going to get warmer. At least that's what fans hope, but it would make sense if that's the case.