Since the St. Louis Cardinals series win against the reigning World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Birds were swept by the Toronto Bluejays and beaten three games to four against their division rival, the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday.
Halfway through the month, the Cardinals are 4-10 in June. So, what’s the problem? Although the bats have cooled off compared to their red-hot May, the Cardinals lineup continues to give quality at-bats and figures out creative ways to manufacture runs without big homerun power. In June, the Birds are 5th in the MLB in singles, which makes up 77 of their 105 hits in June. But are singles enough? Not without pitching support it isn’t. That’s where the wheels are beginning to fall off from this well-oiled Cardinal machine.
The Cardinal’s pitching staff are in the middle of the toughest stretch they’ve seen this year. In June, the starting rotation carries a 6.09 ERA (28th), has given up 87 hits (30th), and posts a .301 avg. against (30th), which are some of the worst numbers across the MLB. Walks are not the problem. Executing quality pitches on the corners and avoiding the middle of the zone has been the main issue. Sonny Gray and Miles Mikolas both suffered uncharacteristic six-run bids on Thursday and Friday against the Toronto Bluejays. The rest of the staff isn’t holding their own either. Sonny Gray owns the only win earned by a starting pitcher this month. With the staff getting hit around in the early innings, the Redbirds have found themselves losing early, leaving the bulk of the work to come from late inning offensive magic from a cooled off lineup and an overworked bullpen. Even if this 2025 team always strives to give fans a good finish, you can’t expect it to come every night. Sometimes games are won in the first inning by a quality start to set the tone. That’s baseball.
Although the bullpen has done well, St. Louis closer Ryan “Heart Attack” Helsley is living up to his fan given name by blowing his last 4 save opportunities. Despite the flamethrowing right-hander touching 102 MPH every outing, hitters are seeing his fastball well enough to beat him in early counts if they know the fastball is coming. Although Helsley entered the game on Saturday in a non-save situation up 8-4 in the bottom of the Milwaukee 9th on Saturday, Helsley gave up a homer to Brewer’s catcher William Contreras, followed by another hit and a walk before wiggling his way out to finish the game. This is not the lights out Ryan Helsley fans watched last year, where he broke the Cardinal’s franchise saves record in 2024 (49).
On top of the pitching struggles, leadoff man Lars Nootbaar has failed to produce this month with only 5 hits in 44 at bats in June and has more walks that hits (6). Utility man Brendan Donovan, who is making a strong case to be the NL All-star 2nd Baseman this year, took the leadoff role in Saturday’s win against the Brewers and scooted Nootbaar down to the 5th spot in the lineup; a similar roster move to 3rd baseman Nolan Arenado’s demotion from the clean-up spot. The lead-off spot needs to be patched, and Brendon Donovan is more than capable of setting the tone early in games (.310). Jordan Walker returned to the lineup on Saturday after missing over two weeks from a left wrist irritation injury. With these spots on the lineup patched up, the offense may find a return to form soon.
Have the Cardinal’s completely changed their season trajectory? As of Sunday, St. Louis has dropped to 4th in the NL Central and are 6.5 GB from the Cubs, who lead the division with a 44-28 record. There is hope, but time is the enemy. They say that the MLB season is a marathon and not a sprint, but it can feel like time is slipping away if the Cardinals let it slide too far off the bag. The starters need to execute better pitches, someone needs to take command of the lead-off spot, and Ryan Helsley needs to take command of his fastball.
The Cardinals are 37-35 and take on the Chicago White-Sox in the three-game set at Rate Field on Tuesday.
Put your rally bird caps on. The boys are going to figure it out soon enough.
I'm a writer trying to make his mark in the baseball journalism world. I graduated with a journalism degree from Union University where I pitched four years of D2 baseball.
