The Cardinals Are Collapsing, And Their Manager's 'Best Shot' Claim Tells You Everything

Alright, you guys gotta hear about this train wreck happening in the NL Central. Seriously, if you thought *your* team was struggling, take a look at the St. Louis Cardinals right now. They just got absolutely pummeled in a three-game sweep by the Brewers, getting outscored a ridiculous 13-2! This isn't just a bad stretch, folks. This team is spiraling, and their manager's words are a total gut punch.

St. Louis Is Bleeding Out at the Plate

You want to talk about brutal? The Cardinals' bats are colder than a January morning on Puget Sound. In that Brewers series, they collectively hit a miserable .177. You read that right, a .177 team average. But wait, it gets worse. They went a mind-boggling 0-for-17 with runners in scoring position! Zero. Zip. Nada. That kind of stat tells you everything you need to know about why they just tied their season high losing streak at four games. They dropped two of three to Pittsburgh, split a rain-shortened series with Cincinnati, and then got utterly embarrassed by Milwaukee. How do you even respond to that?

Amidst this wreckage, manager Oliver Marmol, bless his heart, is trying to keep it together. He said, and I quote, "What happens, I have no idea, but I can tell you what won't happen. We won't have guys going out there sulking and giving away games. They're not going to let (Wednesday's 2-1 loss) affect them and they're going to give you their best shot. Whether it's good enough or not, we don't know. But it's not going to be because we didn't give our best shot." "Best shot," huh? When your best shot results in 0-for-17 with RISP, you know you're in deep trouble. One guy who actually *is* giving his best shot is Jordan Walker, who had two hits and scored their lone run in that 2-1 loss. He's been on fire lately, going 8-for-24 with two homers, eight RBIs, and four runs in his last six games. They need about eight more of him.

Cubs Heating Up, Pitching Matchups Are Key

On the mound for the Cardinals this Friday against the Chicago Cubs, they're rolling out Andre Pallante. He's sitting at 5-4 with a 3.76 ERA, and he looked good last Saturday, holding Cincinnati to one run on two hits with three strikeouts over six innings in an 8-1 road win. But get this, the dude is a living coin flip, going 4-4 in his last eight starts by alternating wins and losses. And his history against the Cubs? Not pretty, folks. He's 0-4 with a 4.40 ERA in 12 career appearances, five of which were starts. The Cubs are coming in hot too, winning their last two games after snapping a brutal 10-game losing streak.

Part of that Cubs surge is thanks to Ian Happ. He just belted a two-run homer among his three hits in a 7-2 victory over Pittsburgh, and he's been tearing it up, going 5-for-11 with two homers and seven RBIs in his last two games. Yikes for Pallante. On the other side, the Cubs are sending out left-hander Shota Imanaga, who's got a 4-5 record with a 4.04 ERA and is trying to break a three-game skid. He's been absolutely shelled recently, giving up 15 runs on 16 hits, including five homers, over just 10 1/3 innings in his last two outings. He even got taken deep three times in an 8-5 loss to the Astros. Imanaga knows his splitter is key, saying, "In the beginning, it felt good, but in the later innings, it felt like the splitters that were trying to go down below the zone were left up in the zone. The best ones are when it starts in the bottom of the zone and drops to the hitters' knees. That's something I need to work on." He's actually 2-1 with a 2.84 ERA in four career starts against St. Louis, so maybe this is his chance to turn it around.

So, what's next? The Cardinals and Cubs kick off their series Friday. The Cardinals are desperate to stop the bleeding and prove Marmol's "best shot" claim is actually true, while the Cubs are trying to keep that momentum rolling after their own disastrous losing streak. It's a clash of struggling teams, one trying to dig out of a hole and the other trying not to fall back in. You just know this one's gonna be a must-watch!

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.