The Cardinals have spent the first half of the 2026 season making a lot of people look wrong.
After the roster churn of the offseason - with Nolan Arenado, Brendan Donovan, Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras all traded away - the expectation around the league was that St. Louis would sink toward the bottom of the National League. Instead, the club reached the All-Star break at 50-45, sitting third in the NL Central, 8 1/2 games behind first place and just one game out of a Wild Card spot.
That kind of start would have been hard to predict when the season opened. It’s also why the Cardinals can’t afford to coast through the second half. They’ve bought themselves a real chance, but one spot on the roster could determine whether that momentum holds.
The issue is the starting rotation, and more specifically Matthew Liberatore.
Liberatore was the team’s Opening Day starter, but his season line tells the story of a pitcher who has not yet settled in. He owns a 5.00 ERA across 19 starts. There was a bright spot in his most recent outing on July 11, when he threw six shutout innings against the Atlanta Braves and looked much closer to the early-season version of himself.
The problem is what came before that. From June 6 through July 5, Liberatore posted a 7.71 ERA over 25 2/3 innings in six starts. That stretch is the kind that can quietly drag down a staff if it keeps going.
If the Cardinals are getting the pitcher they saw on July 11, that changes the conversation. If they’re not, the club may have to look elsewhere. Quinn Mathews is sitting as a straightforward option in Triple-A, Hunter Dobbins is another name in the mix, and No. 4 prospect Jurrangelo Cijntje has just been promoted to Triple-A and could emerge as a possibility before season’s end.
For now, Liberatore is the arm to watch. If he keeps trending the wrong way, the Cardinals could have a hard time preserving what they built in the first half. A rotation can only carry so much weight when one-fifth of it is struggling the way Liberatore did.
In Other News...
Cardinals May Have Just Changed Their Future With This Draft
The Cardinals walked away from the 2026 MLB Draft with a class that has already drawn rave reviews, and it is easy to see why. St. Louis made 24 selections, leaned on the extra capital it picked up through competitive balance rounds and trades, and came away with a group that included six players ranked in the pre-draft top 100.
Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline went so far as to rank the Cardinals class as the best in the league, which only adds to the sense that this could be a pivotal haul for the organization. Now the attention shifts from draft-room praise to the more delicate part of the process, with signing decisions due by the July 27 deadline and at least one notable name already heading back to college. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Fans Had To Love How This Derby Star Was Sent Home
Junior Caminero came into the 2026 Home Run Derby with the kind of power that makes any lineup stop and stare, and he showed it right away. After launching 12 homers in the first round to move on, the young slugger added another layer to his growing reputation as one of the games premier power bats, the same player who has already put up 51 home runs in the regular season and keeps looking like a future Derby fixture.
For Cardinals fans, the appeal was obvious once the bracket tightened and the field got smaller. Caminero was in position to chase a little history as the night wore on, but the matchup that ended his run delivered the sort of outcome St. Louis supporters could appreciate even without a Cardinals bat in the box. The final round of his night came down to a swing count that left just enough room for the home crowd to enjoy the result and wonder how far this Derby star might have gone with one more hot stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Fans Need To See How Fast This Unique Arm Is Rising
Jurrangelo Cijntjes rise has become one of the more intriguing pitching developments in the Cardinals system, and the latest step only adds to the buzz. The switch-pitcher was recently promoted to Triple-A Memphis, putting him alongside a growing group of young arms who are starting to look closer to major league help than long-term projects. Acquired from the Mariners in the Brendan Donovan trade this offseason, Cijntje has already made himself hard to ignore because of the simple fact that he brings a rare weapon to the mound.
What has made the move even more notable is the way he has begun to settle in on the field. In two July starts, Cijntje allowed two runs while striking out 17 over 12 innings, a strong stretch that stands out even with a season ERA of 5.04. He has mostly worked right-handed, with only brief left-handed usage in games, but that unusual profile is part of what makes his climb so compelling for a Cardinals organization that is watching its Memphis rotation with real interest. [Read more 🡒]