As a team, as a group of players, I don’t think the 2025 Cardinals are feeling waves of pressure as they open the season.
This is the situation for an obvious reason: expectations are so low. That’s because the ’25 Cardinals have been dismissed as a relevant factor in the assessment of the strongest contenders to win a league pennant or World Series.
When no one expects you to win, then why stress out? The underdog role can be liberating. This is a younger set of talent. This isn’t a beast-of-burden team. Since I just cited a Rolling Stones song — what the hell, I’m an old goat — then let me go with another one. There is no reason for the Cardinals to collectively have a 19th nervous breakdown.
Go have fun, play ball, and let it rip.
However …
The pressure-free zone does not apply to certain individuals. Some of the men will be scrutinized — in some cases intensely so — as the new baseball campaign gets underway. And this includes non-playing members as well.
Without further introduction, here is my Pressure List for the 2025 Redbirds …
1. John Mozeliak, president of baseball operations: Closing Time.
It’s his final season as the baseball boss of one of MLB’s great franchises. He would like to go out as a winner, but the Cardinals have lost their mojo — in large part due to Mozeliak’s missteps, payroll waste, and failure to modernize the baseball operation. It wasn’t always this way for “Mo,” who became the GM before the start of the 2008 season.
— 2008 through 2015: The Cardinals had the best winning percentage (.562) in the National League and ranked second to the Yankees overall. St. Louis made the postseason six times in eight years, most by an NL team. The run included four division titles. The Cardinals ranked second in the majors (to the Giants) with 32 postseason victories. Under Mozeliak, the Cardinals won a World Series, two NL pennants, seven postseason rounds, and a wild-card game. They qualified for the NL Championship Series in four consecutive seasons (2011–2014) and had a winning regular-season record in all eight years.
— 2016–2024: What a massive change of fortune; we have witnessed the free-falling decline from greatness. The last nine years haven’t been awful in terms of regular-season performance; the Cardinals ranked 10th overall and 5th in the NL in winning percentage (.528). But the postseason success has largely dried up, and the Cardinals have essentially disappeared from the most visible postseason platform.
Over the past nine seasons, Mozeliak’s rosters have won only FOUR postseason games (losing 11). That includes a humiliating 1–9 record in their last 10 playoff games. The Cardinals have won only one postseason round since defeating the Dodgers in the 2014 NLDS. They have missed the postseason five times in the last eight full seasons. In 2023, the Redbirds had their worst record (71–91) in a full season since 1990 — and were No. 22 among the 30 MLB teams in winning percentage over the past two seasons. Can Mozeliak have a positive finish in 2025?
Doubtful. I’m not even confident he’ll do the right thing if the Cardinals are having a so-so season. He could choose to hang onto pending free-agent pitchers Erick Fedde and Ryan Helsley instead of cashing them in on trades.
2. Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr.: Does he still have the fastball?
DeWitt is entering his 30th season as the leader/owner of this prestigious franchise, and for the most part, this has been a special era of baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals. In our increasingly vapid, short-attention-span culture — and the grievance-rage performances on social media — it’s pathetically easy to forget the best of times.
The “Sell the team, DeWitt!” demands are ludicrous. Be careful what you wish for… or did you forget about Stan Kroenke? Did you forget about Bill Laurie, who gutted the Blues?
With DeWitt as chairman, the Cardinals have ranked 4th in the majors and 2nd in the NL in winning percentage. They’ve led the National League in most postseason games (150) and most postseason victories (75). They’ve made the playoffs 17 times; among NL teams, only the Braves (20) have done that more often.
The Cardinals have won 18 postseason rounds and a wild-card game during the DeWitt era. The collection of prizes includes 12 division titles, four NL pennants, and two World Series titles.
But yeah, other than those trivial little successes, baseball in St. Louis has been a godforsaken experience over the last three decades… an inhumane, devastatingly cruel hellhole. Right. Gotcha. Maybe Kroenke can come to the rescue and purchase the Cardinals.
DeWitt and partners also funded approximately 78 percent of the cost of the new Busch Stadium. Yes, he’s invested in real estate (Ballpark Village). Yes, his franchise receives tax breaks. But my friends, c’mon now. Do you realize how many North American major-league sports franchise owners do the same thing? Do you really think this is something new and unique to St. Louis?
Now that I’ve made my point — with predictable and annoying sarcasm — I recognize DeWitt is under pressure to win the fans back… as he should be. Fans should be disappointed and disillusioned by the recent downturn for a simple reason: it never should have happened.
The descent into mediocrity isn’t all on Mozeliak. DeWitt Jr. sets the budget, plays an important role in every major baseball decision, stayed with Mozeliak for too long, was slow to respond to the team’s outdated baseball model, and allowed the excellence of the heralded Cardinals minor-league and player-development system to disintegrate. DeWitt finally did something about that by hiring Chaim Bloom to rebuild a critically important area, so that’s a start.
3. Manager Oli Marmol: The uncomfortable, unpleasant warming of the insecure seat.
Let’s see. He has the 22nd-best winning percentage in the majors over the last two seasons. The Cardinals are 0–2 in the postseason since he became manager. They’ve missed the playoffs in two of his three seasons. His patron, Mozeliak, is going bye-bye after the season. Cardinals legends Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina are campaigning for a major-league managing job.
And Marmol is managing a team that’s stuck in the mediocre middle. The Cardinals aren’t going all-out in desperation to win — but they are desperate to avoid a losing season and are stubbornly resistant to the idea of doing a rebuild. It’s a team that has put the emphasis on giving young players opportunities — well, sort of. How do you balance future priorities with a hot-seat status that can only be soothed by winning… and winning big? But Marmol isn’t managing a team capable of winning big.
Marmol is managing Team Confusion. A team that lacks a true identity. A team that was put together by Mozeliak. This manager is disliked by fans primarily because of his association with Mozeliak. And in 2025, Marmol will audition for Bloom, who takes charge after the season. Sounds like a blast. A real party. Have fun, Oli.
4. Third baseman Nolan Arenado: A return to glory days?
This winner of 10 Gold Gloves, an eight-time All-Star selection, and future Cooperstown Hall of Famer is in a weird place. He never asked for a trade out of St. Louis — he just kept an open mind about a potential trade when Mozeliak approached him to explain how the Cardinals planned to take a “step back” in 2025. Arenado could have accepted a trade to Houston but used his no-trade protection to veto the deal. He preferred to stay in St. Louis — as he did when given the chance to opt out of his contract after the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Even now, Arenado goes into the new season with the cloud of a possible trade hanging over him. Arenado — an intensely proud man — is out to prove that he can still bring the power after having a career-worst 16 homers and a .394 slugging percentage in 2024.
The pressure is twofold. Arenado (A) wants to prove he’s still got plenty of wallop left in his swing and (B) that the desirable teams made a big mistake by passing on a chance to trade for him.
5. Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman: Restless youth.
There’s no need to rehash everything except for the basics: good in 2023, a disaster in 2024, a poor 2025 spring training showing, and fans (understandably) losing confidence in them. They are both young, and hope remains. They’ve had only 1,638 combined major-league at-bats. That’s not enough to define them. But now is the time to deliver. Walker is still killing grass and skimming dirt with his proliferation of ground balls. Gorman’s swing is messed up, and don’t blame the new hitting coach for that. Gorman may not play as much as expected. The Cardinals hope Gorman and Walker can take a big leap forward in 2025. Or will they become the next in a long line of drafted-developed, homegrown St. Louis hitters who thrive only after being traded?
6. Lars Nootbaar: Is this finally the year for Secretariat?
No, Noot isn’t a racehorse. I’m using an analogy, so work with me here. And if you aren’t aware of Secretariat, then Google “1973 Belmont Stakes” and watch a replay of the race. But to become a special performer — if not a Triple Crown winner — Noot must get to the starting gate with enough frequency to matter in a significant way.
Nootbaar is a genuine Statcast star. If you want an impressive All-Metric team selection, this is your guy. He has Hall of Fame credentials in xWOBA, xBA, xSLG, average exit velocity, hard-hit rate, barrel rate, walk rate, and a supreme skill to stay in the strike zone and avoid chasing pitches.
I’m not ridiculing his Statcast profile. I believe in the metrics and their value. I also believe in his talent. The information tells us a lot. He is capable of delivering an outstanding season. But at some point, the Cardinals’ starting left fielder must be physically capable of starting 140+ games.
And instead of fantastic “expected” stats, I prefer to see Nootbaar put up sensational actual stats. As Marmol’s choice for leadoff hitter — for now, anyway — Noot can immediately set the tone for his best MLB season. But if 2025 becomes just another tease — and time spent in the barn recovering from sore hooves, bucked shins, or some other ailment — fans will run out of patience. I’m not there yet; Nootbaar will be 28 in September and there’s still time to make it happen. Is the Secretariat of Statcast ready to gallop? And… we’re off!
Thanks for reading.
–Bernie