Why excitement around Cardinals offense trumps frustration with their record

I know many St. Louis Cardinals fans are frustrated about the state of the organization. I'm right there with you. Change is overdue, and while it is on the horizon, it feels like it can't come soon enough.

We can talk until we are blue in the face about the mistakes they've made in the past, whether John Mozeliak should have been given this final year in charge of baseball operations, if Oliver Marmol is the right manager for the club moving forward, if the DeWitt family is justified in their slashing of payroll this offseason, and so on and so forth. I have strong disagreements with the Cardinals in some of those areas as well.

We can also talk about how the Cardinals as an organization should never settle for mediocrity when it comes to team performance. The 2023 season should not be tolerated with this organization, the 2024 season failed to make up for that, and the state of the club in 2025 is somewhere the Cardinals say they pride themselves on never having to undergo. And yet, this is the position they find themselves in.

Unfortunately, it's become clear that these issues cannot be fixed overnight. They could dump tons of cash onto this operation to maximize their team quality while they overhaul the organization and deep-rooted issues in the minor league system, but it wouldn't make them a World Series contender. Those days won't return until the systemic issues are solved, and that's exactly what Chaim Bloom and the group he has started to bring in are tasked with doing.

Coming into this season, many of you were like me in having low expectations for what this club could actually accomplish this season. My prediction of an 80-82 record is not fun by any means, but it was reflective of how I felt like the team would likely play this year, and many of you even predicted a worse record for the club than I did.

Sitting at 5-7 going into this weekend's series with the Philadelphia Phillies, the club has dropped multiple games that should have gone in their favor. League-worst pitching has held them back in most games, and the club is causing fans to pull their hair out when they see them continually lose winnable games.

But what if I told you that all things considered, this was one of the best possible starts we could have hoped to see from the St. Louis Cardinals so far? It might sound crazy, but I really do think many of you will agree with me as I flesh out my thoughts on the Cardinals' start to their 2025 season.

The Cardinals' offense booming to begin 2025 is the best possible thing we could have seen from the club so far

Even if the Cardinals had a winning record right now, the main story to me wouldn't be their place in the standings, but rather how the club looks to be positioning itself long term as a contender.

If you look at the construction of the Cardinals roster right now, there is one unit that is brimming with opportunities for young talent — the lineup. Four of the Cardinals regulars are 24 years old or younger, and outside of Willson Contreras and Nolan Arenado, their entire starting lineup is 28 years old or younger. And guess what? That lineup is producing like one of the best in baseball so far. The Opening Day lineup as a whole had an average age of 26 years old.

The pitching staff, on the other hand, could be giving opportunities to more young arms, but instead has a rotation with an average age of 31 years old and has been the worst in baseball up until this point. The bullpen's average age is currently 29 years old, and most of those pieces in it right now won't be a part of their long-term future.

So to recap — going into the 2025 season, most people did not expect this Cardinals team to be good. Their lineup, which is extremely young and full of pieces that they can build around moving forward, is one of the strongest units in baseball and is showing a ton of potential long term. The pitching staff, which is mostly filled with players who will not be a part of the Cardinals' future plans, is struggling mightily and is the reason the Cardinals are losing games.

Sure, we'd all love to see this team win more games, but if I had to choose one thing to go right this year from this current roster, I would 1000% want to see this offense thrive over all other things, including wins and losses. As long as this pitching staff is filled with declining veterans or low-ceiling arms who probably won't fill major roles moving forward, I couldn't really care less about that unit's performance in the grand scheme of things. Winning games right now because of players who won't be sticking around long doesn't mean much. But the players who are showing incredible promise and producing at a high level are the very guys the Cardinals were hoping to gain confidence in this year, and that is exactly what has happened so far.

Again, we are talking about what has happened so far. If the offense craters, this won't mean much. If the Cardinals begin to call up young pitchers like Michael McGreevy and Quinn Mathews, you bet I'll care a lot about how they look on the mound. But in a season that is far more about building toward the future than trying to put on the facade of contention when we all know how limited they are, I care more about the individual performances of these young players who are key to their future than whatever wins and losses may come.

If the Cardinals start winning a lot of games on the backs of their young talent, that'll be extremely encouraging. If win games but the young talent is floundering, that doesn't bode well for the future. But even in a stretch like this where they are losing games left and right, as long as we keep our focus on the bigger picture and the offense continues to back that up, I think we can remain pretty optimistic about the groundwork being laid for Chaim Bloom when he steps into John Mozeliak's role this offseason.