The St. Louis Cardinals have spent the first half of the 2026 season rewriting the conversation around them, and ESPN’s latest midseason report card says as much.
On Tuesday, ESPN released grades for all 30 MLB teams based not just on wins and losses, but on how each club has performed relative to expectations. St. Louis came away with a B+, one of the stronger marks in baseball and another sign that the Cardinals have become one of the season’s biggest surprises.
The biggest reasons are sitting right in the lineup. Jordan Walker has broken out as one of the National League’s top run producers, leading the league in RBIs.
Rookie JJ Wetherholt has delivered exactly the kind of debut the organization could have hoped for, already piling up 4.2 WAR. ESPN also singled out Alec Burleson’s clutch hitting and Ivan Herrera’s ability to get on base as major drivers behind the Cardinals’ strong first half.
That’s a sharp turn from where many people had St. Louis pegged in March. Instead of lingering on the edge of the race, the Cardinals have pushed themselves squarely into the postseason mix.
Still, ESPN didn’t hand out the grade without a few warning signs. The Cardinals are 7-2 in extra-inning games, a pace that may not hold over a full season.
There are also questions about whether the pitching can keep carrying its share of the load. The bullpen sits in the middle of the pack, while the rotation is near the bottom of baseball in strikeout rate.
Even with those concerns, the Cardinals have already done enough to force a new assessment. Walker has become the middle-of-the-order presence fans have been waiting for, Wetherholt looks like a franchise cornerstone right away, and several veterans have turned in bounce-back seasons.
What happens next may come down to the trade deadline. That could decide whether St.
Louis is a real postseason threat or simply one of the best surprise stories in baseball. Either way, ESPN’s report card makes one thing clear: the Cardinals have changed the way people see them.
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