The St. Louis Cardinals have lost their clutch gene

The St. Louis Cardinals have seen their season take a drastic nosedive over the past couple of weeks. Much of the blame has been directed toward their rotation, which has tailed off after a strong start to the year. But the past few games have displayed another crack in the Cardinals' armor.

The Cardinals have severely struggled of late to capitalize with runners in scoring position.

For much of the season, the Cardinals felt like they were rarely truly out of a game. Even if they were behind by a few runs, they usually made it competitive and often came back to win. From the start of the season through June 10, the Cardinals ranked seventh in the league in batting average with runners in scoring position. This never-say-die attitude that the Cardinals displayed made for riveting, must-watch games and provided them with a reputation as an exciting "youngry" team.

But over the past eight games, the Cardinals managed a dismal 1-7 record, and their last five games were especially poor when push came to shove. Since June 11, the Cardinals have hit .162 with runners in scoring position, which is fifth-worst in the league, and they've struck out 14 times in 37 at-bats. Their inability to capitalize in prime opportunities was especially apparent in their game on Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers, where, with runners on first and second with nobody out in the ninth inning in a game that Milwaukee led 3-2, Jordan Walker, Victor Scott and Masyn Winn proceeded to strike out in succession, resulting in another loss.

Lars Nootbaar is enduring a frigid stretch at the plate, and his performance has historically played a large role in the Cardinals' success. Ivan Herrera, who was hitting .448 with runners in scoring position prior to June, has fallen back to earth and is hitting .250 with runners in scoring position since June 1. It's a small sample, but the Cardinals are in danger of returning to something resembling the 2024 edition of the team, which managed a meager .229 average with runners in scoring position, ranking 27th in the league.

It was an electric first few months for the Cardinals, and they could discover some semblance of that magic again, but they are sliding out of the race for the Wild Card and now sit in fourth place in the NL Central. With a much more competitive National League when compared with 2025 and superstar Rafael Devers now playing for one of the Cardinals' many Wild Card contenders, it appears likelier by the day that St. Louis will be in sell mode come the trade deadline.