MLB Power Rankings Warn Cardinals Season ‘About To Get Worse’

Can the St. Louis Cardinals fix their rotation?

Aug 17, 2026; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol (37) talks with first base umpire Edwin Moscoso (32) after a call in the tenth inning in the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The St. Louis Cardinals are one of the many National League teams stuck clawing for the final Wild Card spot in a juiced conference. 

With just one month left to play, the season has been as mid as possible, with a 66-66 record. Even then, they land relatively high in Major League Baseball’s power rankings. 

The list dropped Monday morning, showing Oliver Marmol’s Cardinals jumping up two spots to No. 13 despite suffering a series sweep at the hands of fellow Wild Card hopeful Philadelphia Phillies. 

Writer Will Leitch acknowledged that while this weekend was tough, it’s about to get worse in the Lou. 

“The Cardinals had an absolutely brutal series in Philadelphia this weekend -- an extra-inning loss Friday, a blowout loss on Saturday and blowing a 4-0 ninth-inning lead (with two outs!) in a 6-4 loss on Sunday -- but you can make a strong argument it’s about to get worse,” Leitch wrote.

“Injuries to starters Andre Pallante and Hunter Dobbins, along with a pitch count limit on Kyle Leahy, have the Cardinals perilously short on pitchers. It will be important to remember how fun the first five months of this season were, because the last one may be rough.”

As far as grim outlooks go, this is about as bad as it gets among the MLB’s serious teams. 

To call the remaining schedule manageable would be an understatement. St. Louis plays Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Colorado, Washington, and San Francisco twice, all of which are under .500 – some laughably so. 

There are tough series against Los Angeles, the Chicago White Sox, and the Milwaukee Brewers mixed in, but on all accounts, this is a schedule that should leave the door wide open for a late-season push. 

Marmol and his staff will have to figure out how to work around this rotation depletion, whether that be through bullpen innings or the Memphis Redbirds. Surprisingly enough, I lean towards the first option. 

It’s boom-or-bust time; they’re going to have to ask their starters to go deep into games. If the remaining healthy starters can eat up innings, having that fifth day be a rubber day sounds like a safer bet than depending on Triple-A arms. 

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