Cardinals most to blame for missing 2024 postseason
It's never easy for a team to look in the mirror and figure out what went wrong. The St. Louis Cardinals are a franchise showered with winning traditions but they haven't done much winning over the past two seasons. 2023 was a disaster for St. Louis and 2024 didn't bring a different vibe.
The Cardinals missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season and are now 13 years removed from their last World Series. Maybe a championship was never in the cards for St. Louis this year but the franchise expected to do better than the 83 wins they finished with.
This is an important offseason for the Cardinals as they try to put the last two seasons behind them. Several factors played into St. Louis' downfall but much of it was self-inflicted. You win as a team, you lose as a team. The Cardinals have found that out the hard way in the last two years.
Multiple players and coaches have to find their prior form and shake off a tough season. The Cardinals can make external moves to improve, but the current players on St. Louis' roster need to put in work this winter to get them back on track.
Pair of Cardinals stars offer dud seasons
Sometimes a team can only go as far as their best players. For the Cardinals in 2024, their best hitters did not provide the sort of spark they're accustomed to bringing.
Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt had awful seasons to their standards, albeit their very high standards. Still, the pair of All-Stars did not deliver for the Cardinals and the team suffered because of it.
Arenado increased his average from a season ago but recorded a career-low in doubles and had his fewest number of home runs and runs scored since his second MLB season. He hit only 16 home runs and posted a .394 slugging percentage, way down from his career mark of .515.
Goldschmidt was worse as his batting average, OBP and OPS all decreased. He hit 22 home runs, drove in 65 runs and scored 70 times, a far cry from the 35 homers, 115 RBIs and 106 runs he scored during his MVP year in 2022.
Arenado and Goldy are the two engines of St. Louis' offense and it struggled as they did throughout the year. The Cardinals ranked 22nd in runs and home runs among the 30 MLB teams. That isn't a recipe for winning a division or making the playoffs.
The futures of Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt in St. Louis are in question. The latter is slated to be a free agent and intends to play in 2025.
Another step back for veteran starter
Miles Mikolas wasn't anyone's Cy Young pick this year, but the Cardinals surely expected more from him in 2024. The veteran righty had arguably his worst season as a pro and faces big questions entering a contract year in 2025.
Mikolas stayed healthy and made 32 starts but failed to give St. Louis a quality outing more times than not. He did register 15 quality starts but his poor outings were tough to swallow as he imploded on more than one occasion.
Mikolas allowed five or more runs nine times while the Cardinals went 16-16 in games he started. He struggled mightily in the second half, posting a 5.76 ERA in 12 starts. Opponents hit over .300 off him with an .834 OPS after the All-Star break.
Overall in year two of a three-year, $55 million contract, Mikolas recorded a career-low 5.35 ERA. That's a far stretch from his 3.29 ERA in 2022 when he made his second National League All-Star team.
Miles Mikolas has been a reliable pitcher for the Cardinals but he gave the team trouble in 2024. Next season is massive for his career as it could be his last chance to prove he can still be part of a major league rotation. It will be his age-36 season and a contract year for the Cardinals starter. In his current state, Mikolas isn't guaranteed another MLB deal.
