Bernie’s Bird Bytes: The Cardinals’ Streak Of 15 Consecutive Winning Seasons Is In Jeopardy.

The Cardinals are likely careening to their first losing season since 2007. It’s been a while. Where have you gone, Kip Wells?

I suppose it’s possible for the catawampus Cardinals to reach level ground. Seeing how they’re staggering with a 27-42 record, a revival of the Redbirds would require a 54-39 mark the rest of the way to balance the ledger at .500.

This does not include a potential sell-off from their collection of fine athletes between now and then the Aug. 1 MLB trade deadline.

This isn’t a good time to offer even a dollop of praise for the Cardinals. But if they are indeed doomed to a lost year, their impressive run of 15 consecutive winning seasons will come to an end. And that’s kind of a big deal, because sustained success is rare in the majors.

Only two MLB franchises avoided the stain of a losing record from 2008 through 2022. The Cardinals. The Yankees. That’s it. An honorable mention goes to the Dodgers, who had one losing season over that time.

Fun facts:

— Between 2008 and 2022, major-league teams combined for 218 losing seasons. The Cards and Yanks had none of them.

— Most losing seasons since 2008: Marlins 12, Padres 12, Pirates 11, Rockies 11, Royals 11, Mets 10 and Reds 10.

— The Cardinals’ current rivals in the NL Central – Brewers, Cubs, Pirates and Reds – have combined for 34 losing seasons since 2008. And the Cardinals have none? That’s pretty decent.

— This brings it home: since 2008, a total of 25 MLB franchises have endured at least five losing seasons. The only four teams to avoid that were the Cardinals, Yankees, Dodgers and Rays.

This does nothing to alleviate the anguish caused by the Cardinals’ in-progress fiasco. And perhaps their first losing season since the So Taguchi Era will motivate St. Louis management to raise the payroll and make a more aggressive effort to build a more complete team going forward.

REASONABLE REQUESTS

Things I would like to see during STL’s weekend set against the Mets in Queens – and then in their ensuing series at Washington:

A) Nolan Gorman emerge from a deep and troubling slump. Over his last five games he’s struck out 15 times in 26 plate appearances for a strikeout rate of 57.6 percent. And he’s batted .121 with a .224 slug and two homers since May 16.

B) It would be swell to see Willson Contreras do something about his .198 batting average for the season and the extreme dive that has him going 4 for 58 since May 21.

C) A more reliable bullpen. Very important. When you have as many blown saves (15) as actual saves (15), no lead or tied game is safe.

D) A happy outcome in Adam Wainwright’s final career start against the Mets in New York. Citi Field ain’t Shea Stadium, but the memories of the young Waino striking out Carlos Beltran with an evil curve to clinch the 2006 NLCS have aged very well and will always be special.

E) Get some damn hits with runners in scoring position. The Cardinals are hitting .178 with RISP since May 22 – which ranks 30th over that time. That’s a big reason why the Cardinal shave scored the fewest runs in the National League (70) since May 22.

F) A reheated offense. Since May 22 the Cardinals rank no better than 25th in the majors for batting average (.219), onbase percentage, slugging and OPS.

G) A first series win for the Cardinals took three of four from the Dodgers in a series that ended May 21.

E) A continuation of Jordan Walker’s eight-game hitting streak. Over the eight games Walker is batting .414 with a .469 OBP and .690 slug. Plus two homers and six RBI.

BIRD BYTES

1. The Cardinals are averaging 3.1 runs in their last 17 games, which largely explains their 4-13 record over that time.

2. I know this is a couple of days old, but still … the Cardinals squandered a win against the Giants on Wednesday because they didn’t score after the third inning and went 2 for 20 with 8 strikeouts. They did nothing against Giants relievers and struck out 17 times overall.

3. In case you were wondering, Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski hits like his Hall of Fame grandfather Carl Yastrzemski when he sees Cardinal red. In 92 plate appearances vs. St. Louis since the start of 2019, grandson Yaz has a .350 average, 1.111 OPS, seven homers, five doubles and 19 RBIs. But hey, Cardinals, keep throwing him fastballs down the middle because that’s worked so well for you.

4. Biggest need? This, from the relentless typist Jim Bowden of The Athletic: “The Cardinals have been the most disappointing team in the majors this season. One core reason for the dramatic downfall: their starting pitching. The Cardinals do have a plethora of major-league-ready outfielders and a strong farm system to trade from. They’re going to have to upgrade their rotation if they want any chance of digging out of this hole and contending this season. Despite their brutal start, the Cardinals are only 8 games back in the wide-open NL Central, and they have the offense to close that gap.”

5. Tweet from ESPN’s Jeff Passan: “As mediocre as the Mets and Padres have been this season, no team comes close to the Cardinals in terms of downright disappointment. They are a disaster.”

6. I’m not surprised to see the Cardinals trailing first-place Pittsburgh by 8 games or second-place Milwaukee by 7.5. I’m more taken aback by their standings deficit against the Reds (7 games) and Cubs (4.5 games.)

7. The Cardinals’ front office has blocked a helluva prospect in 23-year-old catcher Ivan Herrera. He’s tearing it up at Triple A Memphis, hitting .297 with a .424 OBP and .546 slug. The bashing includes 18 doubles, seven homers and 35 RBI. He walks a bunch and doesn’t strike out much. And in his last 19 games Herrera batted .373 with a .484 OBP and .680 slug … with four homers and 19 RBI. Remember when the Cardinals gave Herrera a brief look in 2022? The pitchers didn’t like him because he wasn’t Yadier Molina. At some point this post-Molina insanity must go away.

Thanks for reading!

-Bernie

Bernie invites you to listen to his sports-talk show on 590 The Fan, KFNS-AM. It airs Monday through Thursday from 3-6 p.m. and Friday from 4-6 p.m. You can listen by streaming online or by downloading the show podcast at 590thefan.com or the 590 app.

Follow Bernie on Twitter @miklasz

Listen to the “Seeing Red” podcast on the Cardinals, featuring Will Leitch and Miklasz. It’s available on your preferred podcast platform. Or follow @seeingredpod on Twitter for a direct link.

All stats used in my baseball columns are sourced from FanGraphs, Baseball Reference, Baseball Savant, Fielding Bible, Sports Info Solutions and Baseball Prospectus.