2025 St. Louis Cardinals Face Future Market Backlash

2025 St. Louis Cardinals Face Future Market Backlash

The Cardinals fired Mike Shildt after the 2021 season. Even though Shildt never had a losing record, and produced three playoff campaigns in his final three seasons. Next, Shildt’s replacement, Oliver Marmol, was the man who presided over the baseball betting odds collapse. Marmol will be feeling serious heat in 2025. And there is no certainty that the Cardinals will pull out of their fall. In 2024, the St. Louis Cardinals, an aging team in transition, could not make up enough ground to make the playoffs.

2025 St. Louis Cardinals World Series

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2025 St. Louis Cardinals Manager and Key Players

St. Louis ranks 19th for MLB payroll. Major moves: Declared their intention to trade Nolan Arenado

From the earliest days of this offseason, the president of baseball operations, John Mozeliak, has been adamant. Accordingly, he was tremendously transparent about the club’s desire to trade third baseman Nolan Arenado. The Cardinals were in something of a transitional state as a franchise. Hence, both the player and the team thought it best to find a new home for Arenado. As a result, it cleared the way for some younger players on the St. Louis roster.

However, Arenado’s contract ($74M owed over the next three seasons) and the no-trade clause within it have made it difficult for the Cardinals to find the right deal. Arenado rejected an agreed-upon deal with Houston in December. In turn, the Astros have since pivoted with their third-base plans. With spring training approaching, the Cardinals are still seeking a landing spot for Arenado, and Mozeliak said recently that it’s a “coin flip” whether they would find a deal, even with their continued intentions.

It’s not that St. Louis’ sports betting roster looks particularly poor as currently constructed. It’s that all the Cardinals’ talk this winter has been about subtracting rather than adding. Specifically, that is not just concerning Arenado.

So, too, it is with trade rumors involving closer Ryan Helsley and starters Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde, and Steven Matz. However, all of that talk has amounted to nothing so far, leaving St. Louis with one of the least active offseasons of any team in MLB — and a grade that reflects it.

Since 2022, Oliver Marmol has been the manager of the Cardinals. Hed led St. Louis to a Central Division title in 2022.

RHP Sonny Gray is the Cardinals’ number-one starter. In 2023, Gray was 8-8 with a 2.79 ERA and 1.15 WHIP. Last year, Gray was 13-9 with a 3.84 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. Gray is a 3-time All-Star.

2025 St. Louis Cardinals Team Overview

Following a record of 93-69 and winning the National League Central in 2022, the St. Louis Cardinals fell to 71-91 in 2023. The Cardinals are a proud legacy franchise that may not live up to their historic reputation with gamblers and fans in 2025. Of great concern is that St. Louis could be under water for the upcoming few seasons.

In 2024, the St. Louis Cardinals had an MLB odds record of 83-79 and were 2nd in the National League Central Division. Offensively, St. Louis ranked 22nd for runs scored, 11th for batting average, 16th for OPS, 20th for home runs, and 21st for stolen bases. Defensively, St. Louis ranked 16th for earned run average, 16th for WHIP, 11th for strikeouts, 12th for quality starts, 5th for fewest errors, and 7th for bullpen ERA.