Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
While most of us keep our eyes fixed on the future of the St. Louis Cardinals, this time of year, appropriately, we reflect on what has occurred as we establish resolutions for the upcoming year. For some, that revolves around getting fit, reading more, being a better person, etc. In 2026, the Cardinals seem to be resolved in their convictions to establish a new era in St. Louis, as President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom is actively re-shaping the Cardinals roster to bring a youthful freshness to the “Show Me” State that had become predictable and stale in recent seasons.
2025 saw the curtain call of long-time executive and polarizing figure John Mozeliak, bowing out with grace and humility as he recognized his influence no longer seemed to be what was best for the organization, and it certainly was time for a fresh voice and new ideas to take center stage as modern baseball appeared to pass the veteran executive by and with it the roster followed. But, before he departed, he had the opportunity to oversee one last Cardinals team resolved in highlighting its young major league talent to establish where they were, what they could be, and who was worth building around. They received answers on several players; some answers weren’t the ones they were hoping for, such as Jordan Walker/Nolan Gorman/Nolan Arenado/Erick Fedde, and some answers were left open-ended; can Herrera catch? Can Liberatore be a full-season mid-rotation starter? What is Masyn Winn’s offensive upside? Can Nootbaar stay healthy and productive for a full season? Then there were the answers they recieved postive results on; can Willson Contreras effectively transition to 1B? Can Alec Burleson put it together for a full season? Can Victor Scott establish himself as the everyday CF?
2026 promises to have its fair share of questions to be answered, but we’ll save those for next year (wink-wink). Before we toast to 2025 and allow it to forever lie to rest in the history books lets take one last month-by-month look at the season that was and highlight a few of the most memorable moments of the season!
It was an exceptionally frigid month of January when it came to player acquisition, as we all eagerly awaited the hopeful trade terms of an approved Nolan Arenado trade. After declining to waive his No Trade protection in December of 2024 to play for the Houston Astros, mere days after they traded away franchise pillar Kyle Tucker, John Mozeliak continued to talk with a very exclusive group of teams that Arenado’s team had provided an okay for, which coincidentally also included the Astros before the aformentioned Tucker deal plus the impending departure of Alex Bregman gave Arenado pause to whether or not the Astros would be capable of contending in 2025. The Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox reportedly had the framework of an Arenado deal put together in the event they were unable to execute a free agent deal for Scott Boras client Alex Bregman, who was Boston’s first choice all along. Let us not also forget John Mozeliak’s statement at the Winter Warm Up event, where he stated that trading Arenado was priority 1, 2, and 3.
Moves of note to occur in January 2025:
Claimed LHP Bailey Horn off waivers from the Detroit Tigers.
Signed minor league free agent C Yohel Pozo.
The month of February brought very little in terms of buzz, as a real dud of an offseason for Cardinals fans seemed to slog through the icy slosh that remained on the ground as pitchers and catchers reported to spring training, and the Cardinals were not able to accomplish much of any substantive additions or subtractions in the offseason. The final offseason of the John Mozeliak era ended essentially standing pat throughout the winter. Alex Bregman seemingly inevitably for most of the winter landed with the Red Sox, and Nolan Arenado was awkwardly but openly welcomed back as a member of the 2025 Cardinals.
Moves of note to occur in February 2025:
The St. Louis Cardinals acquire INF/OF Michael Helman from the Minnesota Twins for cash considerations.
Signed RHP Nick Anderson to a minor league deal.
One of the most exciting months of the year for baseball fans, as baseball highlights are online routinely and games are being played as the ramp-up and beginning of the season occur in March. The lone Major League deal handed out before opening day by the St. Louis Cardinals was RHP Phil Maton on March 13th, signing for 2 million dollars. Maton would serve in the vacated Andrew Kittredge set-up role, bridging to closer Ryan Helsley. Which he was excellent at! Offseason storylines abound, leading to the eventual climax that was a rain-delayed opening day. Strangely enough, we didn’t know it at the time how much of an omen that opening-day rainstorm would be, a theme that would persist throughout the early portion of the 2025 season.
After a strong all-around winning performance behind Sonny Gray on Opening day the Cardinals beat the Twins on Saturday as well, setting up their chance to sweep the Minnesota Twins to open the season.
The Cardinals would drop the series opener against the Los Angeles Angels on the final day of March, starting their 162-step journey 3-1.
After dropping the first 2 games of the series to the Los Angeles Angels in late heartbreaking fashion. It set the stage for one of the most impressive offensive performances by a Cardinals catcher in franchise history:
Ivan Herrera was the first Cardinals catcher in franchise history to hit 3 home runs in one game, helping the Cardinals finish the opening week homestand 4-2. This would be the only time throughout the 2025 season they would hold first place in the division, though they would get close at certain points in May and June. Ultimately, the first week of the season proved to be one of the more exciting ones in 2025.
After getting absolutely schlacked in Boston by a total of 36-2o, we don’t need to re-live that. The Cardinals also dropped the following series in Pittsburgh, in which the only game they won was against eventual NL Cy Young award winner Paul Skenes. Finishing the road trip 1-5, and returned home to face off against two postseason teams from a year ago. The Philadelphia Phillies and the Houston Astros. After splitting the first 2 games of the series against the Phillies, it set up a rubber game on a Sunday in which lefty Matthew Liberatore battled against NL Cy Young contender Zack Wheeler.
After winning back-to-back series against the Phillies and Astros, the Cardinals went back out on the road at a record of 9-9 early in the season. If you remember, one of the weird anomalous parts of the season was the fact that the Cardinals could NOT win away from Busch Stadium. After getting swept in 4 games against the New York Mets, the Cardinals dropped 2 of 3 in Atlanta to finish the road trip 1-5 again. The Cardinals had one final home series in April against division rival Milwaukee Brewers, in which they took care of business, winning two out of three. They then headed to Cincinnati, where they dropped their first game against the Reds, but won both games of a split doubleheader to finish the month of April with a record of 11-16 and 14-17 overall heading into May.
The Cardinals dropped the first game of May to the Reds, sandwiching a pair of losses around the Cardinals’ double header sweep. The team would then arrive back home to take on the New York Mets, in which rain was a factor, once again forcing them to play yet another doubleheader. After dropping the first game of the series to New York, the Cardinals once again swept the doubleheader behind an impressive performance from Cardinals youngster Michael McGreevy:
A gritty performance by the Cardinals and Michael McGreevy showing off the poise that makes him such a tough competitor, and Victor Scott II robbing Juan Soto of a home run, and you can see the adjustment he made at the wall from a previous video where he wasnt quite set in the proper spot, trying to take one away from Mike Trout. This was the point in the season where it felt like the Cardinals were getting things figured out and about to go on a really nice stretch run. That proved to be the case as they would sweep the Pittsburgh Pirates to finish the homestand at 5-1 on a 5-game winning streak. The Cardinals would travel to Washington, where Erick Fedde would pitch his most impressive game in his short tenure with St. Louis:
After the big win in the series opener against the Nats, the Cardinals would sweep them as well to take their win streak up to 8 as they enter the city of brotherly love, where the Phillies owed the Cardinals some payback after dropping their previous series in St. Louis. In game 1, Christopher Sanchez, who was a top 5 finisher in NL CY Young voting, opposed Matthew Liberatore:
The Cardinals would win their 9th and final game in a row, and then would have to maneuver around rain and play a double header against Philly in which they would have their winning streak snapped, but the Cardinals would come out bats a blazing against Aaron Nola and win abosolute slugfest with the Phillies to take the series beating them 14-7. The Redbirds would then take on their cross-state rival Kansas City Royals, and take 2 of 3 in KC and return home to face the best team in baseball at the time and the eventual back-to-back AL Cy Young award winner, Tarik Skubal. The Cardinals dropped 2-3 to the Tigers before welcoming the Arizona Diamondbacks to Busch Stadium, whom they swept, winning in comeback fashion in all 3 games! The Cardinals would then head out onto the road to finish up the month of May, taking 2 of 3 against the Baltimore Orioles before splitting the final 2 games of May against the Texas Rangers. The Cardinals finished the month of May an NL-best 19-8 and 33-25 overall.
As the Calendar turned to June, the Cardinals began to show their cracks as they suffered through a very up-and-down month that truly saw them come back to earth and ultimately set them on a course for the rest of the season. They dropped the finale to the Rangers on June 1st, 8-1, and welcomed the Kansas City Royals to Busch Stadium. After dropping the series opener 10-7 and ANOTHER rainout forcing a double header, the Cardinals and Royals split with KC winning game one and the Royals taking game 2 and the rubber match of the series. The Cardinals then welcomed the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers to town and shut them out in game one of the series wining 5-0, and in attendance for John Mozeliak’s final “Blogger Day” event, I witnessed one of the more exciting finishes of the season after Erick Fedde battled Cy Young award finalist and eventual World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto:
I will say, after rewatching that one more time for all the consternation that the Nolan Arenado saga caused me personally, I was happy I was able to witness one more great moment from the future Hall of Fame third basemen while wearing the “Birds on the Bat.” The Cardinals would drop the series finale to the Dodgers, which would open up an extended tough stretch for the Cardinals, getting swept at home by the eventual AL Champion Toronto Blue Jays. The Cardinals would then go to Milwaukee in a battle for 2nd place, in which Milwaukee handily took care of the Cardinals, handing them a 4-game sweep and extending their losing streak to 8 in a row. Then came the “get right series that was more like the last gasp of the Cardinals’ hopes of 2025 when they swept the Chicago White Sox and came home and took the first 2 against the Cincinnati Reds before Andrew Abbott shut out the Cardinals in the finale. The stage was then set to welcome the long-time rival, first place Chicago Cubs. The Cardinals at the time were only 4.5 games back with a 4-game series in late June with a chance to really create chaos. Game 1 was especially memorable for Cardinals fans:
4 2-run home runs for the Cardinals left handed bats powered the birds past the baby bears, and the Cardinals would win another wild back-and-forth game with Chicago the next night with a final of 8-7, which PCA famously forgot how many outs there were, and Masyn Winn scored from 2nd base on a sac fly. The Cubs would respond by splitting the remainder of the series, winning the final two games. The Cardinals would then head to Cleveland, where staff ace Sonny Gray would pitch the most impressive performance by a Cardinals starter of the season against the Cleveland Guardians:
Sonny Gray with the complete game 1 hit shutout was simply brilliant, and the Cardinals would go on to sweep the Guardians to reach a season high 10 games over .500 before dropping the series opener to the Pirates to close out the month of June with a record of 13-15 and 46-40 overall.
The Cardinals would go on to be swept by the Pirates in Pittsburgh, heading into a very important 4th of July weekend series against the Cubs in Chicago. After Miles Mikolas was absolutely decimated in game 1 of the series, Matthew Liberatore took the mound again, and catcher Yohel Pozo provided one of the most memorable swings of the season:
The Cardinals would be let down by Erick Fedde on Sunday Night Baseball in 2nd consecutive non-competitive start to drop the series to Chicago, also of which would ultimately spell the beginning of the end for his tenure in St. Louis. The Redbirds would return to Busch and win the series against the Washington Nationals helping them stay afloat in the division before dropping 2 of 3 against the Atlanta Braves in which 1 of those games Erick Fedde was sent out to start when it was clear he was no longer what was best for the Cardinals chances to win any longer and Manage Oli Marmol all but publicly pleaded with the front office to call up Michael McGreevy to take Fedde’s rotation spot. John Mozeliak ultimately decided the best long-term play was to try and allow Fedde to rebound to resurrect some value in a trade – this never came to fruition. The Cardinals completed the first half at 50-47. Given expectations heading into the season, this was a welcome spot for Cardinals fans, as the team was at the very least in the middle of a playoff race in July and meaningful baseball was being played.
However, coming out of the break the Cardinals failed to take advantage of their foothold in the standings and were swept in Arizona and dropped 2 of 3 to the Colorado Rockies going 1-5 in their roadtrip out of the break and at that point the writing was on the wall that the team was going in the wrong direction and would likely be selling its veteran relievers at the deadline. The Cardinals split their series with the San Diego Padres and lost 2 of 3 against the Miami Marlins to finish the month of July as the Cardinals dealt away Closer Ryan Helsley, Set Up man Phil Maton, and Lefty Swiss Army Knife Steven Matz. The Cardinals also DFA’d Erick Fedde and were able to work out a deal with the Atlanta Braves, who simply needed a body due to the sheer number of injuries to their pitching staff. The Cardinals finished the month of July with a record of 8-16 and 54-56 overall.
The Dog days of August felt like a desolate wasteland when it came to Major League baseball games in St. Louis after selling at the deadline 2 of the last 3 seasons, Cardinals fans had fully checked out from the team, and Busch Stadium experienced record low numbers of fans both in terms of tickets sold and fans in the stands. Though the team continued to fight to stick around the periphery of the Wild Card race. The Cardinals began August dropping 2 of 3 to San Diego and winning 2 of 3 against the Dodgers before coming home and winning 2 of 3 against the Chicago Cubs. The Cardinals seem to be stabilized going 5-4 through the first couple weeks of the month before dropping 2 of 3 again to the Colorado Rockies in St. Louis and getting swept at home by the New York Yankees seemed to kick the Cardinals back down with a 1-5 homestand they were at 6-9 through August 17th and went a combined 3-3 against the Florida teams the Miami Marlins and the Tampa Bay Rays. Finishing out the month of August, the Cardinals split the 4-game series with the Pirates and won 2 of 3 against the Cincinnati Reds. The Cardinals finished the month of August with a record of 14-14 and an overall record of 68-70.
The Final month of the John Mozeliak era started with the Sacramento Athletics, and the Cardinals won 2 of 3 to begin the month. They then welcomed the San Francisco Giants to St. Louis and won 2 of 3 against them as well. Getting the Cardinals back to .500 for the first time since mid-July. The team would head up to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Seattle Mariners and were promptly swept out of Seattle and dropped 2 of 3 against the Brewers before coming home were they dropped 2 of 3 against Cincinatti which put them into a far enough hole that they were never able to recover from. The Cardinals would go a combined 4-5 in their final 9 games of the season and finished the year at 78-84. Though the Cardinals remained in the hunt for the majority of the season what die hard fans they had left in the stands gave up on the team in mid july after the Cardinals refused to remove Erick Fedde from the rotation and put a greater emphasis on return rather than the spirit of competetion and giving the surprise team every weapon at its disposal to continue giving its best shot to win as many games as possible. The 2025 Cardinals likely wouldn’t have gotten past the Wild Card round, as we saw the Dodgers have their way with the Reds. Though for a fanbase that still believes in a winning product, it still could have helped with messaging and experience for its young core.
A day after the end of the regular season, the Cardinals conducted the first of their 2 end of season press conferences, the first to give John Mozeliak his due and allow him his final remarks as he moves on to other opportunities.
On September 30th, the St. Louis Cardinals introduced their new President of Baseball Operations, Chaim Bloom. The first time someone in the Cardinals organization has been the final say person since 2007.
The Cardinals fell radio silent in October as they began their offseason work, continuing what they had started 1 offseason ago. Though this is also a time when Major League Baseball requests that most teams not make any major announcements out of respect for the playoffs.
November saw a busy month of 40-man roster clean-up and procedural moves as the Cardinals said goodbye to long-time Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas as the team’s lone free agent. The Cardinals began by outrighting CF Michael Siani, LHP Anthony Veneziano, Zack Thompson, RHP Roddery Munoz, and selected the contract of minor league UTIL Bryan Torres. Before the 40-man roster deadline, the Cardinals added C Leonardo Bernal, OF Joshuah Baez, LHP Cooper Hjerpe, and Brycen Mautz. The Cardinals also pre-emptively designated RHP Jorge Alcala for assignment to make space for the additional 40-man addition, and as the Cardinals were not expected to tender Alcala a contract, this was an expedited means to the end of his tenure. The Cardinals also chose to non-tender LHP John King, C Yohel Pozo, and RHP Sem Robberse (the latter two, who they have already brought back).
Just before the Thanksgiving holiday, the Cardinals traded staff Ace Sonny Gray, to the Boston Red Sox for RHP Richard Fitts and LHP prospect Brandon Clarke. This served as the first major move of the Chaim Bloom era, and kudos to the ownership group, including cash in the deal to help land a better return for Sonny Gray.
The Cardinals also signed veteran RHP Scott Blewett to a minor league deal, and he will have the chance to compete for a bullpen spot or be AAA depth in Memphis should a need arise.
The Cardinals began the month of December by claiming LHP Zak Kent off waivers from the Cleveland Guardians. The team also selected RHP Matt Pushard in the MLB portion of the Rule 5 draft and Ryan Murphy in the minor league portion.
On December 17th, the Cardinals signed RHP Dustin May to a 1 year deal worth 12.5 million dollars and designated OF Matt Koperniak for assignment. Dustin May is the exact type of pitcher the Cardinals should have targeted this offseason. One with upside and the ability to potentially take advantage of an opportunity, with the chance for the team to flip him at the deadline and continue its asset accumulation process.
On December 22nd, the St. Louis Cardinals traded 1B Willson Contreras to the Boston Red Sox for RHP Hunter Dobbins, RHP Yhoiker Fajardo, and RHP Blake Aita. The Cardinals were able to get a mixture of upside and floor, like they were able to in the Sonny Gray trade. Once again, ownership green-lighted cash going into the deal to sweeten the return. At just 19 years old Yhoiker Fajardo is the name to keep an eye on in this package. He is nowhere near his physical ceiling as a player, and he is just starting to tap into more velocity. As he continues to mature, expect him to continue to grow into more exciting traits. Think of Fajardo as 1 year out of High School equivalent. We know High School arms generally take a while to develop, and with that expectation, patience can pay off with a big reward 3-4 years down the road with a guy like Fajardo.
Finally, the Cardinals signed LHP Jared Shuster to a minor league contract. With the potential of a JoJo Romero trade, the only other LHP reliever on the 40-man is Nick Raquet. The Cardinals need depth at that spot, and I would not expect them to stop at Shuster and Raquet and call it good.
The Cardinals began the year with a caretaker and a career steward of the franchise who would make slight adjustments year over year in the name of perennial contention. It rarely came to fruition in the back half of his tenure, but it also, except for 2023, never cratered out and blew up. For his years of consistency and, at times, lack of urgency, the St. Louis Cardinals were always in the thick of it. Chaim Bloom has come in with a wrecking ball to this 40-man roster this offseason and began a true facelift on the organization that, at least, will shake the dry, stale status quo that so many Cardinals fans had tuned out from. Where the Cardinals go in 2026 is wholly dependent on their young core and emerging talent from the minor leagues. What I will say is that it appears that the Cardinals have the right people in charge, overseeing this “draft and develop” process that has been ordered by the Dewitt top brass. The Cardinals look to be young and growing in 2026, but even in the most lackluster of perceived seasons, there will still be highlights and memories worth looking back on fondly the same way we did in 2025.
-Thanks for reading (this year!)