St. Louis Cardinals are showing that a rebuild can be done quickly

When the St. Louis Cardinals started this rebuild — a "build" in owner Bill DeWitt Jr.'s words — fans expected 2028 to be the first year of serious contention for the club. After a convincing start to the 2026 season, this could become one of the quickest rebuilds in the last decade and a half.

The term "rebuild" has become synonymous with organizations like the Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, and Washington Nationals. It took the Astros and Cubs, who started their rebuilds in 2011, four and six seasons, respectively, to reap the benefits of their tanking. The Tigers, who have made the postseason each of the last two years, were in an eight-year rebuild prior to their recent run of success. The Washington Nationals have yet to make it to the postseason since 2019.

Rebuilds are typically an abysmal time for fans, players, and organizations writ large. It takes years of sub-.500 records, several gambles on high draft picks, and a whole lot of luck. The Cardinals haven't been to the postseason since 2022, and the last three years have been a rollercoaster of emotions and competitive focus. Now, with a rebuild fully in effect, fans are able to see the future.

Chaim Bloom and the 2026 St. Louis Cardinals prove that rebuilds don't have to take many years.

When Chaim Bloom was anointed the St. Louis Cardinals' president of baseball operations, he vowed to not compromise the long-term outlook of the organization for short-term success.

"Our top priority will be to build our talent base for the long term," said Bloom in his first press conference as POBO in September 2025. "That may mean hard decisions and short-term sacrifices, but to get where we want to go, we can’t take shortcuts — and we won’t.”

Given the team's early success in 2026, there's a chance the long term may be arriving earlier than expected. While a year of contention was never anointed by the organization, most fans expected 2028 to be the team's first year where they would focus on the present; 2026 and 2027 would be years where players would prove their value.

The Cardinals are 19-13 in their first 32 games of the appointed rebuild period. That's impressive considering how long it took for past rebuilds to take. The Tigers, Cubs, Astros, and Nationals took several years to find success after they started their rebuilds.

Now, one may call the last two seasons a "rebuild" of sorts, but the Cardinals didn't take any steps that normal rebuilding clubs would take prior to the 2025-2026 offseason. It wasn't until this past winter that the Cardinals traded pricey veterans, didn't sign high-end free agents, and didn't openly discuss the long-term outlook of the system. In both 2024 and 2025, the club made moves towards contention.

There's still a long way left to go in Year 1 of the rebuild, but the breakouts of Jordan Walker, JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera, and Alec Burleson should give both the Cardinals and their supporters hope that the return to postseason contention won't be long.

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