The statistics in this story were reported as of Sunday, April 26.
Heading into the 2026 season, St. Louis Cardinals fans braced themselves for a rough year. After trading away four key veterans last offseason — Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado and Brendan Donovan — the team had a lot of question marks penciled in the starting nine. But so far, sitting at a 14-12 record, the birds are getting off the ground. And they’re doing it as a team.
While the Cardinals are having some stellar individual performances, no one player is carrying this year — it’s been a group effort, guided by manager Oliver Marmol. Even after trading away veterans, the Cardinals have built a balanced squad. On offense, Jordan Walker leads the way with eight home runs in his breakout season. He joins an elite list of Cardinals who hit seven home runs in the team’s first 15 games: Mark McGwire, Scott Rolen and Albert Pujols. The former MLB Pipeline top-10 prospect is showing signs of the player he was hailed to become before back-to-back atrocious seasons of a .619 on-base plus slugging percentage in 2024 and a .584 OPS in 2025. Ivan Herrera, MLB No. 5 prospect in baseball, JJ Wetherholt, and — perhaps the most surprising contributor on the team — Nathan Church, all have four home runs.
When Church started on opening day, Cardinals fans may have said: Who? Then he robbed a home run. On Baseball Savant, he’s in the 88th percentile in MLB in sprint speed (he’s swiped three bags so far) and the 88th percentile in arm strength. Players like Church are the reason that the Cardinals are squeaking out wins despite a lackluster pitching staff and the worst run differential in the National League Central division.
Silver Slugger Alec Burleson and Gold Glover Masyn Winn are also having solid seasons. Burleson has three home runs and a .747 OPS and Winn, after starting the season cold, has a .768 OPS. On defense, he and Wetherholt are tied for No. 6 in MLB, each with four outs above average according to Fangraphs.
As a team, the Cardinals are No. 5 in outs above average, tied for No. 10 in home runs and No. 14 in OPS. Those numbers are fantastic for a rebuilding team, but holes can be poked all throughout the Cardinals’ pitching staff.
The Cardinals own the No. 27 (out of 30 teams) earned run average in MLB and are No. 30 in strikeouts with 170 — the Arizona Diamondbacks are No. 29 with 198. The Cardinals are buried deep in last place in strikeouts. It’s a good thing the defense is top of the league, but the sustainability of run prevention is worrisome.
Opening day starter Matthew Liberatore was off to a good start before some blow-up starts ballooned his ERA to 4.75. Offseason signee Dustin May took the opposite approach: having blow-up starts early on before bouncing back; regardless, his ERA is 5.84. Former first-round pick Michael McGreevy has been the best starter so far with a 3.29 ERA and a phenomenal 4.8% walk rate. And Andre Pallante and Kyle Leahy round out the rotation with 4.26 and 5.63 ERAs, respectively.
The bullpen isn’t much better. According to Covers, the Cardinals’ bullpen ERA is 5.23. The bright spot has been the new closer, Riley O’Brien, who has a 1.26 ERA, 0.767 walks and hits per innings pitched and seven saves. Even with O’Brien, a lead rarely feels safe this season.
Regardless of the pitching staff, this team is fun to watch, which is a win for Cardinals fans. They slap the ball around the park, play good defense and sneak out come-from-behind wins. The outlook for the future Cardinals isn’t so grim because the offense is exciting, and reinforcements are on the way. The Cardinals have five pitchers in the organization’s top 10 prospects, including No. 5 overall pick in the 2025 MLB draft, Liam Doyle, and switch pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje, who was acquired from the Seattle Mariners as the headliner prospect in the Donovan trade.
The Cardinals are building a core. The exterior is shaky and weather-prone, but the foundation is becoming strong, which is all fans can ask for in the midst of a rebuild.
