Why reaching 70 wins hits different for the St. Louis Cardinals this year

Experts all around the league expected the St. Louis Cardinals to be one of the worst teams in all of Major League Baseball this year. After trading off veterans and announcing a rebuild, that prediction was not seen as a hot take. However, fans of the team knew the experts were off in their win-total estimates and had higher expectations for the 2026 season.

The Cardinals started off the season surpassing even those thoughts and entered September still hanging on to the dwindling postseason hopes. The season has been a rollercoaster ride with constant debates on whether the team should have gone for it at the trade deadline or traded away even more of their valuable pieces. Despite having one of the youngest teams in all of baseball, the Cardinals hit their 70th win after another dramatic finish against the LA Dodgers that featured the St. Louis future showing out.

The .500 Cardinals have fans feeling better about the future than previous teams with the same record

According to the preseason projections, the Cardinals were not even supposed to get to the 70 win mark this year but the team was able to reach that number with 22 games to play. While that seems like an accomplishment, history had to knock us down a peg. In each of the last three seasons, the Cardinals were at or within one game of .500 when they notched their 70th win. How those years ended though, can create some pause in the celebrations from fans.

In 2024, the Cardinals were able to stick above .500 for the rest of the season and finished 83-81, but missed the postseason despite a second-place finish in the division. The next year, they were 70-71 but spiraled in September for a 78-84 record at the end of the season. In 2026, though, even if the Cardinals were to fall in the same path as last year's team and miss the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season, the overall body have work has been an overall positive for the Cardinals and their future.

With those previous teams, fans came into the seasons expecting postseason play but were let down by late-season collapses or disappointing veteran performances. The continued missed playoffs forced a change in leadership and philosophy, allowing Chaim Bloom to take full control of building his future contenders. Even if this season does ultimately end in another October at home for the Cardinals, the feelings around the team has to be positive overall.

While pitching questions remain, the Cardinals learned plenty about their rotation. They are still without an ace, but a rotation core still showed up in Andre Pallante, Kyle Leahy, and Michael McGreevy. With injuries popping up around the staff, Quinn Mathews is the first higher-level pitching prospect to get his shot this year. Alongside him, other arms like Luis Gastelum and George Soriano have staked claim to a bullpen role with Justin Bruihl becoming a solid lefty option.

In a fact-finding season, the Cardinals still need to make a decision on Matthew Liberatore, but receiving positive results from the other arms could push that down the road a little longer. The same can be said for the lineup, as the heavy hitters in the St. Louis lineup have hidden some other holes at major positions. Jordan Walker and Alec Burleson are the best run-producing tandem in baseball, while JJ Wetherholt proved his abilities as a major league hitter before a wrist injury slowed him down. Ivan Herrera, despite his power outage, has still been productive but a move off of catcher could be coming soon.

Elsewhere, Joshua Baez looks to grab hold of the 2027 starting left fielder job and Leo Bernal will try to take an early lead for the primary catcher with a late-season audition. The foundation of the lineup is solid, but that still leaves the Cardinals with questions, at least offensively, at third base, center field, and shortstop. Masyn Winn continues to be one of the best defensive shortstops in all of baseball, but his bat continued to regress this season before yet another injury.

Third base and center field have no clear answer on the horizon, and if the Cardinals were to contend in 2027, Bloom would do well to put some financial resources in those spots. Even if he tries to fill from within, the 70-win Cardinals have set a solid foundation for however long this rebuild will take. If Bloom is able to loosen the purse strings and invest in some established major league talent, the balance of budding youngsters and quality veterans could cause more excitement soon.

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