As if playing poor baseball relative to expectations isn’t frustrating enough, there is a literal price to pay whenever a team falls short of its standards. For the St. Louis Cardinals, their so-called “devil magic” seems to be running out, and fans are sensing the team’s downturn. They are on track to miss the playoffs for the second-consecutive season, with their 3-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday sending them to 61-64 on the year — six games back of the third wild card spot in the National League.
As a result of their mediocre play that dates back to their shockingly bad 2023 season in which they finished in last place in the division with a 71-91 record, fewer and fewer fans are flocking to Busch Stadium to catch games. On Tuesday, only 30,022 fans were in attendance in Busch Stadium — the smallest recorded crowd in the non-pandemic history of the stadium, per Katie Woo of The Athletic.
Cardinals fans have been spoiled since the turn of the century; they have only had one losing season from 2000 to 2022, missing the postseason just seven times during that span. But now, the fanbase seems to have been souring on the franchise, as evidenced by the dwindling attendance numbers.
Winning cures all, and one would think that, if the Cardinals return to their usual winning ways, fans will begin to attend games more often. There is some reason to believe that St. Louis can be better in 2025; Masyn Winn has future star written all over him, while Brendan Donovan and Mike Siani, 27 and 24 years of age, respectively, look like solid big-leaguers for the foreseeable future.
However, the developments of young players such as Jordan Walker, Jose Fermin, and Victor Scott haven’t exactly gone according to plan. Moreover, they only have the 19th-ranked farm system in the league, according to MLB.com, which means that they do not have too much quality prospect depth that’s ready to take over on the big-league roster.
But at the end of the day, the Cardinals’ fanbase remains one of the most passionate in the league. Despite the team’s lackluster performances, they still rank in the top 10 in average attendance per game in 2024. The top brass simply has to give them stronger reasons to root for the team.
At the trade deadline, the Cardinals were still very hopeful that they could mount a push for a wild card spot, as congested as the playoff race may be. They traded former Gold Glove-winner Tommy Edman in a deal that netted them back veteran help in the form of Erick Fedde and Tommy Pham to try and boost their postseason odds. Suffice to say, that did not work out in ideal fashion.
The Cardinals’ offense has floundered over the past few weeks. In particular, they failed to pounce on golden opportunities to score in what ended up being a series sweep at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds, and then on Tuesday, they were once again quiet at the plate, with Frankie Montas having his way with the St. Louis lineup.
At present, Fangraphs has their current playoff odds at 2.8 percent. During the day of the trade deadline, that number was at 23.7 percent. Simply put, they have lost ground, and they have been losing fan support in the process.
