St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado. (Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports)
The St. Louis Cardinals finished April at the bottom of the NL Central standings, which is a spot they’ve literally never found themselves.
Maybe the St. Louis Cardinals aren’t in a slump. Maybe they’re just bad?
What else can fans conclude after a miserable April ended with them sitting at the bottom of the NL Central with the second-largest divisional deficit in baseball?
St. Louis is 10-19 and 10 games behind the first place Pirates after one month of baseball action.
This is the first time the team has finished the first month of the season in last place in the NL Central since the division was formed in 1994. This is their lowest win total in April since then.
The last time the Cardinals came out of April in last place in their division was in 1988 when they were one of six teams in the NL East.
The good news? They didn’t finish that season in last place. The bad news? They finished in fifth place, 25 games behind the division-winning Mets.
Cardinals rough start has fans in their feelings
Fans in St. Louis processed this information in varying ways.
Rivals have enjoyed this turn of events.
Sunday’s 6-3 loss to the Dodgers completed the sweep in Los Angeles’ favor. It was the second sweep the team has suffered this season after the Braves notched one in the second series of the year.
The bigger issue is that St. Louis has outright won just two series, going 2-1 against the Blue Jays and Rockies. They’ve lost or split every other series.
Oli Marmol has to figure some way to jolt his team out of this funk they’re in, whether it’s calling up prospects to shake things up or some other tactic.. Last year, they won the NL Central with a 93-69 record. This year, it looks like the battle will be at the bottom of the division, hoping to avoid finishing fourth for the first time since 2008.
