Cardinals Make Decision On Oli Marmals Future After Last-Place Finish
The St. Louis Cardinals are less than two weeks away from opening their season against the Los Angeles Dodgers and fans are hopeful that 2024 will be different from last year's disappointing outcome.
Cardinals manager Oli Marmol faced harsh criticism this winter after leading his club to a last-place National League Central finish with a 71-91 record -- 13 games back from a wild card spot.
Despite managing St. Louis to the franchise's worst record in 33 seasons last year, it looks like Marmol won't be going elsewhere anytime soon.
"We (Cardinals) have signed manager Oliver Marmol to a two-year contract extension through the 2026 season," the team announced Friday.
Marmol joined the Cardinals organization in 2017 where he started as a first base coach and was then promoted to bench coach two seasons later.
Following the dismissal of former St. Louis skipper Mike Shildt at the end of the 2021 season, Marmol was appointed to manage the Cardinals -- becoming the youngest manager in Major League Baseball history at the age of 35.
In his first season managing St. Louis, Marmol led his team to a first-place NL Central finish with an impressive 93-69 record but fell short of glory after succumbing to the Philadelphia Phillies two games to none in the NL Wild Card Series.
There have been rumors that a pair of St. Louis legends might supplant Marmol as manager but it doesn't look like that's going to happen -- at least not for now.
It's great to see the Cardinals decide on Marmol's contract before the season starts because it avoided what would have been season-long drama as the skipper was entering his final season under contract. Hopefully, he will find a way to lead St. Louis back to the playoffs in 2024.
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