The Cardinals have already given fans plenty to chew on in the first half, but the second half is where the real guessing game begins.
St. Louis heads into the break at 50-45, the same record it carried last year at this point, even after a first half that featured Jordan Walker’s rise to baseball stardom, JJ Wetherholt’s rapid climb and lockup for the next eight years, and a long list of players turning in career years. Still, the job isn’t finished, and there’s no shortage of speculation about what comes next.
One possibility is that Quinn Mathews forces the issue by mid-August. The Cardinals’ No. 6 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, has been rolling.
He’s posted a 3.99 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP this season, but the real story is what’s happened since he cleaned up the command. After a rough May 9 outing against the Toledo Mud Hens, when he allowed six earned runs in 1.1 innings, Mathews has been one of the organization’s hottest arms.
Over his last seven starts, he has a 1.83 ERA and has cut down on the walks that gave him trouble earlier in the year. At 25, he’s close to decision time, and the Cardinals have openings if they want to make the move.
Matthew Liberatore has been shaky all year, carrying a 5.00 ERA through 19 starts, and the bullpen’s left-handed depth is thin with only JoJo Romero and Justin Bruihl. If Romero is moved, or if Liberatore is shifted out of the rotation, Mathews has a clear path.
Another swing comes in the outfield: trade Lars Nootbaar and bring up Joshua Báez. Nootbaar has been one of the club’s most reliable players when healthy, and since returning from the injured list he has lengthened the lineup and brought back his usual energy.
But Báez has kept improving every year and is trending toward big league home run production. The fit is there, even if the move would be painful.
It would be a tough goodbye, one that would rank right up there with Harrison Bader, but the Cardinals could keep competing while still cashing in on Nootbaar’s value. They wouldn’t even need to rush Báez into center field immediately, since Nathan Church and José Fermín have both played there this season.
Chaim Bloom, as the thinking goes here, would need to make a hard call and trust the upside.
The boldest prediction of all is that St. Louis sneaks into the playoffs in the final series of the season against the Milwaukee Brewers.
That’s the kind of call that sounds outrageous until you lay out the path. Milwaukee is expected to run away with the NL Central, the Reds have faded, the Pirates are stuck in the middle, and the Cubs remain wildly inconsistent.
That leaves the Cardinals, a team described here as one year early and packed with young talent, energy and national attention. They’ve spent the season scrapping to the final out, and that edge is part of the case for a late push.
Wetherholt showed it in Pittsburgh, Winn showed it in Houston, and Walker flashed it during the Home Run Derby in Philadelphia. Manager Oliver Marmol has not taught this group to quit, and the idea is that the final week brings a clinch.
With Milwaukee possibly resting key players for October and St. Louis facing a lighter strength of schedule in the second half, the setup is there.
In this scenario, Wetherholt even ends it with a Jake Bauers popout to secure the Cardinals’ 89th win and their first postseason trip since 2022.
In Other News...
Cardinals Lose Another Young Prospect As Key Return Raises New Questions
The Cardinals player-development pipeline took another hit this week, with the organization making a series of roster moves that underline how much turnover can come in the minors. St. Louis activated outfielder Tai Peete off the seven-day injured list and right-hander Alan Reyes off the 60-day injured list, giving the system back two prospects it has been waiting to see on the field again. Peete, one of the more notable names in the group, arrived in the organization in a trade and has been viewed as part of the clubs longer-term talent base.
At the same time, the team also announced that infield prospect Christian Martin is no longer part of that picture after stepping away from professional baseball. For a Cardinals farm system that has already had to keep reworking its depth chart, the combination of a retirement and two activations creates both relief and uncertainty, especially with Peete now back in circulation and Reyes trying to reestablish himself after a long absence. The next stretch will say a lot about how quickly St. Louis can turn those returns into real momentum. [Read more 🡒]
Joshua Bez Just Turned Up The Pressure On The Cardinals
Joshua Bez wasted no time reminding the Cardinals why he has become one of the more intriguing names in the system. In his first Triple-A game after the All-Star break, the 2026 No. 3 prospect delivered another burst of power, pushing his season total to 29 home runs and putting him atop the International League leaderboard. For a player in his first run at this level, the production has been hard to ignore, especially with St. Louis still trying to keep itself in the Wild Card mix.
Bez has paired the pop with a .250 batting average, a .322 on-base percentage and a .900 OPS across 83 Triple-A games, a line that gives the Cardinals something to think about as the season moves deeper into July. The timing matters, too, because the organizations next steps at the trade deadline could shape how aggressive it wants to be with its young talent. Either way, Bez is making a strong case that his name belongs in the conversation. [Read more 🡒]
One Prospect Expert Just Threw Cold Water On The Cardinals Draft Buzz
The early buzz around the Cardinals 2026 draft class has not been unanimous, even as some evaluators came away impressed by the groups depth and by Trevor Condon as a headliner. Jim Callis and Kiley McDaniel were among those who liked what St. Louis did, but not every prospect voice is buying the optimism, and Keith Law offered a far cooler read on the class than the prevailing praise.
Laws view was that the Cardinals leaned more on quantity than quality, with a class he did not see as producing any clear steals. He was also less sold on Condon than some of the other national analysts, and his broader prospect notes carried a reminder that St. Louis still has real development questions to sort through, including the long-term outlooks for Quinn Mathews and Jurrangelo Cijntje. [Read more 🡒]