By Rob Rains
Going into the series against the Dodgers that begins on Monday night in Los Angeles, the Cardinals have a 56-57 record with 49 games left to play in the regular season.
An eternal optimism will look at the wild-card standings and tell you if the team gets hot, it still has a chance to play in October, even if only for a couple of wild-card games.
A realist will look at how the team has played for the last two months and tell you that to expect much different results in August and September is highly unlikely.
Those two months of games don’t have to be wasted, however. There is much the Cardinals can learn from the results, no matter if they are wins or losses, as preparations should shift to focus entirely on the 2026 season.
With that in mind, here is a list of 10 things the Cardinals should do between now and the end of the season:
- Bat Victor Scott II leadoff.
Seriously, what could it hurt? Scott hasn’t been great offensively for the last month, but have the team’s leadoff hitters done much better? Since June 30, the Cardinals’ leadoff hitters have gone 24-of-106, a .226 average, with 11 walks in 28 games. Since the All-Star break, they have been even worse, with a .161 average (10-of-62) with five walks over the last 16 games.
Scott, since June 30, is 16-of-88 (.182) and has drawn 11 walks. Since the All-Star break he is 9-of-49 with eight walks, a .298 on-base percentage. What Scott brings to the top of the batting order, however, is the element of speed. He has seven stolen bases since June 30 while batting ninth and for a team desperate for offense, putting him in the top spot and maybe being able to steal a few bases could lead to a few more runs. Try Brendan Donovan in the second spot. Maybe that would get him going too.
- Continue to start Jordan Walker every day in right field.
At this point, there is no reason not to do this. The yo-yoing of having him in the lineup, not in the lineup, going to the minors, coming back from the minors, has to stop. Walker needs to play, period. It’s the only way he is going to get better, and if he doesn’t, it’s the only way to find out and make off-season plans accordingly.
The Cardinals came into this season knowing that their two biggest offensive question marks were Walker and Nolan Gorman. They were the two players, given the “runway” mentality, that we were supposed to find out about this year, to see who they really were and could be. We’re still waiting for the answer.
At this point, nothing about Walker and Gorman has really changed. In the final weeks of the season, give Walker that chance or else the team will head into the off-season in the same uncertain place it was in last winter.
- Play Nolan Gorman every day at third base.
The shoulder injury that put Nolan Arenado on the injured list last week has opened the door to make this happen, and the Cardinals need to keep it open. Even when, or if, Arenado returns, Gorman still needs to play.
The Cardinals current roster has nobody with more than 15 home runs. Gorman hit 27 in 2023 when he was 23 years old. Seriously, he should be better than he was then with a couple of more years of experience but he has been riding the same yo-yo train as Walker, and it’s time for it to stop.
Two months of regular playing time should help provide an answer of whether the Cardinals can count on Gorman in 2026 or not.
- Make Nolan Arenado as uncomfortable as possible.
This ties into the third point on this list. There should be no reason, if or when Arenado comes back from the IL, that he needs to play. Yes he is a potential Hall of Famer and could regain his Gold Glove status this year for his excellent defensive play. But his offense has been a disaster. His last homer was June 21. Since then he has driven in four runs. Why would that change in the last two months?
The problem, of course, is Arenado’s contract and the infamous no-trade clause. He isn’t going anywhere that he doesn’t want to go, and to this point, he has chosen to remain in St. Louis instead of approving a trade to somebody other than one of the very few preferred teams on his list, none of whom have wanted him. The only way for that to change this winter is to make Arenado so uncomfortable here that he will expand that list, coming up with more options, and maybe somebody will make a deal. That would be the best-case scenario for 2026 even if the Cardinals have to eat half of his salary for the next two years.
Talk about a repeat of not knowing if Walker or Gorman can succeed? How about another winter of questions about whether Arenado is staying or going? No thanks.
- Give Ivan Herrera at least three starts a week in left field.
Of the 10 items on this list, this probably has the greatest chance of actually happening. The Cardinals like Herrera’s bat, they know he can’t catch, and they don’t want to limit him to being a full-time DH. Because necessity is the mother of invention, they also need another right-handed corner outfielder with a chance to hit a home run.
How many home runs do the Cardinals have this year from right-handed hitting outfielders? The answer is four, three by Walker and one by Jose Fermin. Why does this offense struggle so much to score runs? There is one of the reasons.
Herrera, with enough game reps, should be fine in left field. He likely will go to winter ball and get another 20 or 30 games of reps there before next season. Lonnie Smith played left field for the Cardinals. It can’t be that hard.
- Move Kyle Leahy into a starting role.
It might only be for a couple of spot starts, but again, why not give him a chance? Leahy has been one of the success stories this year among Cardinals’ pitchers as a mid-innings reliever, and for a team that knows it will be looking for at least one starter next year, if not more, why not give him a few games in that role now to see what it looks like? That’s the only way to find out going into next year if Leahy is a viable starting candidate or not.
- Don’t let Miles Mikolas make another start.
Admittedly his last couple of starts have been better, but again, is there any reason why Mikolas needs to continue to go out there every five days and take innings away from somebody who has a chance to be on the team next year? No, there is no reason for that to happen.
- Insert Gordon Graceffo into the closer’s role.
The Cardinals cannot afford to go into 2026 not knowing who their closer will be. A couple of months to try out for the spot should give Graceffo enough time to show that he can do it. Of all the young pitchers, he seems to have the best pitch arsenal for the role and the best chance to get swings and misses when they are desperately needed. He also has the composure on the mound and the confidence to do the job. Give him a chance to show it.
- Keep JJ Wetherholt in Memphis.
If the Cardinals’ top prospect needs more at-bats when the Triple A season ends, let him go out to the Arizona Fall League. Wetherholt has torn up Memphis since his early July promotion from Double A and has positioned himself to go to spring training next February with a chance to win a starting position on the Cardinals infield.
Wetherholt doesn’t need a month on the major-league roster this year to prove it. He doesn’t need to go on the 40-man roster yet, and bringing him up before the end of the season would require that, taking a spot away from a minor-leaguer who has to be protected. Beyond that, the team already has too many left-handed hitting middle infielders. Clear up that logjam this winter to create a spot for Wetherholt in 2026.
- Let Chaim Bloom take over now as the team president.
This, of course, is the least likely to happen of all 10 things on this list. But why? If John Mozeliak is truly leaving his job at the end of the season, what is the reason why it has to wait until after game 162 to make the transition? Bloom has spent the last two years being a good soldier, staying in the background, out of the limelight, learning the ins and outs of the organization.
Bloom no doubt has made up his mind about some things he wants to change – as well as some things he likes and some things he doesn’t. Giving him a two-month head-start to start working on his agenda only makes sense.
The transfer of power in this manner – announcing it a full year before it was supposed to happen – was awkward to begin with. Make the change now and move forward.
Every decision that this team will need to make between now and the end of September has to be made with 2026 in mind – and Bloom should be the one doing it.
Follow Rob Rains on X @RobRains
Photo of Victor Scott II by The Associated Press
