2023 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 2023 St. Louis Cardinals season was the 142nd season for the St. Louis Cardinals, a Major League Baseball franchise in St. Louis, Missouri. It was the 132nd season for the Cardinals in the National League and their 18th at Busch Stadium III. They entered the season as the defending NL Central champions.

Their 82nd loss on September 15 (65–82) guaranteed their first losing season since 2007 (78–84), after 16 consecutive winning seasons and only their third losing season since 1999 (75–86).

After their 89th loss on September 27, they secured their first last-place finish since 1990 (70–92), with the Pittsburgh Pirates finishing above them in fourth place.

Previous season
The Cardinals finished the 2022 season 93–69, to win the National League Central division title for the first time since 2019. They lost in the Wild Card round to the Philadelphia Phillies. The season also marked the final season for Cardinal legends Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina as both had announced their retirements prior to the season beginning.

Rule changes
Pursuant to the CBA, new rule changes will be in place for the 2023 season:


 * institution of a pitch clock between pitches, 15 seconds with no runners on base and 20 seconds with runners;
 * limits of two pickoff attempts per plate appearance;
 * limits on defensive shifts requiring two infielders to be on either side of second and be within the boundary of the infield; and
 * larger bases (increased to 18-inch squares from 15-inch squares);

April
The Cardinals won the opening series of the season, winning two out of three from the Toronto Blue Jays. However, the Cardinals went on to only win one more series against the Colorado Rockies, and they were swept twice by the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers. On April 4, drama ensued as outfielder Tyler O'Neill was thrown out by Ronald Acuña Jr. at home in a 4–1 loss to Atlanta. After the game, manager Oliver Marmol sharply criticized O'Neill's perceived lack of effort while rounding third base, calling it "unacceptable." Following the public criticism, it was considered that O'Neill might have been trying to avoid injury, as he had dealt with two hamstring injuries in 2022 and at the time of the incident it was drizzling. O'Neill criticized Marmol subtlety, telling media that he did not need to take the issue public and it could have been dealt with behind closed doors. As punishment, Marmol benched O'Neill for the following game.

Highly touted rookie Jordan Walker started his career off with a twelve game hit streak, which tied an MLB record for the longest by a player age 20 or younger to begin his career. Following the end of his hit streak against the Pirates on April 13, Walker cooled down at the plate and with his subpar defensive ability in his new outfield position, he was optioned back to AAA Memphis on April 26.

May
To start May, the Cardinals were swept at home by the Los Angeles Angels followed by dropping a series against the Detroit Tigers. Following the back-to-back series losses to start the month, the Cardinals announced that first-year catcher Willson Contreras would be removed from the catching role and be exclusively used as a designated hitter. The reason given for this move was to allow Contreras to communicate with the pitching staff and figure out how to work better together.

The Cardinals then started a successful run of baseball, where they won a series against the rival Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, followed by a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Following the sweep of the Red Sox, the Cardinals announced that Contreras would return to catching duties to start the upcoming home stand. They then returned home to win back to back series, starting with a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers and then a four-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

To finish the month, the Cardinals cooled off with a split of a four-game series against the Reds in Cincinnati, followed by dropping a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians, which was also the Cardinals' first series loss since May 6. The Cardinals ended the month by splitting a two-game series with the Kansas City Royals at home, which involved a Game One loss where Royals pitchers Josh Staumont and Mike Mayers took a perfect game into the 8th inning before being broken up by a Nolan Arenado single.

June
In June, the Cardinals dropped their first four series, which included falling victim to sweeps by the Pittsburgh Pirates on the road and the San Francisco Giants at home. During this stretch, 2022 All-Star closer Ryan Helsley was also placed on the 15-Day IL with a right forearm strain on June 12, which was followed with the decision to assign Jordan Hicks the closer role. Hicks was one of the few bright spots of the team in June, earning 5 saves in the second half of the month which involved earning saves on three straight days against the New York Mets and Washington Nationals and hitting 104.3 miles per hour. These saves were also the first earned by Hicks since he earned 14 in the 2019 season.

The Cardinals also played the Chicago Cubs in the 2023 London Series as the home team, which involved a two-game series split where the Cubs took game one by a score of 9–1 that involved outfielder Ian Happ hitting two home runs off of starter Adam Wainwright, followed by the Cardinals winning game two by a score of 7–5.

July
The Cardinals won two of three series before the All-Star Break, in which Nolan Arenado was the sole Cardinal All-Star selection, starting at third base for the National League. Coming out of the All-Star Break, the Cardinals pulled off a six-game win streak which included a sweep of the Miami Marlins at home, their best win streak of the season, before fading at the end of the month and losing the final two of three series of July, both to the Chicago Cubs.

A positive turn for the Cardinals in the month of July however as they fell further out of contention was starting pitcher Steven Matz, who had started the season with a 0–7 record and an ERA around five. In July however Matz found his stride, as he went 5.1 innings scoreless against the Chicago White Sox on July 9 before the All-Star Break. Matz then picked up his first win of the season on July 20 against the Chicago Cubs after going 5.0 innings and surrendering one earned run. Matz followed that start with two consecutive quality starts, going 6.0 innings scoreless against both the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago Cubs again, picking up his second win of the year in the start against Chicago. Matz finished the month of July with a 2–0 record and a 2.17 ERA in 29.0 IP in the month.

September


On September 18, Adam Wainwright, 42, pitching at home against the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers, won his 200th game, 1-0, pitching seven scoreless innings, giving up only four hits, walking two, striking out three. His 2,202 career strikeouts make him the 66th pitcher to have at least 2,200 strikeouts. His 200 wins make him the 122nd pitcher in baseball history to reach that milestone. His 200 wins, all with the Cardinals, rank him third in the team's history, joining Bob Gibson (251) and Jesse Haines (210).

At home on September 29, Wainwright batted for the first time since October 6, 2021. In the sixth inning with the team trailing 14-2, he pinch-hit for designated hitter Luken Baker. On the second pitch, he grounded out sharply to second base. It was his only at-bat that night. Over his career, he has 10 home runs, 75 RBIs, and a .193 batting average. He has five seasons batting over .200.

In his final game and the team for the season on October 1, Wainwright struck out swinging in the eighth inning, with the team leading 4-3, the final score. Wainwright was 0-for-2 for the season.

Batting
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; BB = Walks; SO = Strikeouts; AVG = Batting average; OBP = On-base percentage; SLG = Slugging percentage * = bats left-handed TEAM .742 OPS (On-base + Slugging percentages; 6th of 15 NL teams), 101 OPS+ (adjusted for the team's ballpark) Source:
 * 1) = bats both (switch-hitter)

Pitching
Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; HR = Home runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts; WHIP = Walks plus hits per inning pitched * = throws left-handed TEAM BF = 6,273; ERA+ = 90 Source:

Major League Baseball draft
The 2023 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft took place on July 9–11, 2023, in Seattle. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams.

2023 Draft Order

2023 Draft Tracker (STL Cardinals) Cardinals Draft Signings Tracker