The Cardinals are 81 games into one of their most surprising seasons in decades, and if they had their wish right now, the next 82 games would go similarly and land them in the playoffs for the first time since 2022.

Ending their three-year postseason drought would keep alive a rather impressive feat in team history. Since 1947, the Cardinals have had stretches of at least three straight years out of the playoffs five times, including the current drought. The previous four times the franchise responded by reaching the NLCS (2019, 2000 and 1996) or winning the World Series (1982 and 1964).

A lot must go right between now and Sept. 27 for the Cardinals to qualify for the playoffs, but a lot has already gone right for them over an 81-game stretch where they have crafted one of the best feel-good stories in baseball. Despite trading away veterans Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras and Brendan Donovan over the winter and devoting themselves fully to the second-youngest starting lineup in all of MLB, the Cardinals have not spent one day below .500 this season and have remained a fixture of the Wild Card chase in the National League.

At 43-38, the Cards are seven games back of the steamrolling Brewers, but they are currently locked in the No. 3 Wild Card spot in the NL – a half-game ahead of the Padres (43-39) and a game ahead of the Marlins (44-40) and well ahead of the rival Pirates (42-42) and Reds (39-43). Manager Oliver Marmol has been masterful at handling the bullpen again, and Chaim Bloom proved to be proactive in finding George Soriano in Spring Training, and promoting Bryan Torres, Jimmy Crooks, Blaze Jordan and Nathan Church when the bottom of the lineup was slogging.

Here’s a breakdown of the first half of the 162-game season:

Best stretch: The Cardinals’ best stretch of the season thus far came as quite a surprise because it materialized on the heels of an ugly lull in their play. However, it spoke volumes about the resolve of the feisty, young bunch.

After dropping the series finale to the Marlins and getting swept at Busch Stadium by the playoff-tested Mariners in three tightly contested games from April 24-26, the Cardinals sat at a seemingly perilous 14-13 and were faced with heading to Pittsburgh for four straight games. In that opener, the Cardinals got a game-tying, eighth-inning homer from standout rookie JJ Wetherholt in his first game playing in the stadium where he fell in love with baseball as a child and teenager. Then, they won it in the ninth inning with a two-run double by reserve Jose Fermin.

That rally seemed to spark something within the Cards, who went on to sweep the Pirates over the four-game set, and they took the first two against the two-time champion Dodgers back at Busch Stadium for a season-best six-game winning streak.

Worst stretch: After getting to 37-28 – their high-water mark for the season at nine games over .500 – the Cards have gone just 6-10. Their bullpen squandered numerous leads and cost them two wins in Minnesota and their starting pitching showed major signs of wear and tear in an ugly series in Kansas City. Meanwhile, the scoring-hot Marlins outplayed them badly with their superior pitching in the most recent series. Utility fielder Bryan Torres prevented a sweep with his two-run homer in the finale.

Best victory: March 26 – Cardinals 9, Rays 7. Down 7-1 in the sixth inning on Opening Day, the Cardinals set the tone for the season by scoring eight runs in the bottom of the inning. Rookie JJ Wetherholt had his first MLB homer early and Alec Burleson had a towering, two-run moonshot late to provide the winning runs.

Worst loss: May 10 – Padres 3, Cards 2 (10 innings). A strike away from taking three of four from the Padres in San Diego, the Cards saw disaster strike when Nick Castellanos drilled a tying homer off Riley O’Brien. The Padres then won the game in the 10th on a Manny Machado sacrifice fly.

MVP: Jordan Walker. Though he has slumped of late, Walker has been the driving force behind much of the offense’s success this season. He’s keeping the ball off the ground, getting to more pitches on the outer half of the plate and he’s cut his strikeout rate until June (29 strikeouts compared to three walks). Evren with his recent power outage, Walker is tied for first in the National League in RBI (58) with Dodgers' center fielder Andy Pages. He is slashing .290/.343/.516/.859 with 16 doubles, 18 homers and 47 runs scored. Honorable mention: Burleson, Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera, Andre Pallante

Cy Young: Andre Pallante. After going 0-8 over his final 10 starts of 2025, Pallante had to fight to simply stay in the rotation this season. But after a winter of work, he came back a different pitcher. He is attacking more and nibbling less and landing his secondary stuff more for strikes. He already has nine wins and recently put together a four-game winning streak. Honorable mention: Michael McGreevy

Top Reliever: O’Brien. Riding the confidence that he got from closing late in 2025 after Ryan Helsley was traded, O’Brien started the season by not allowing an earned run over his first 13 outings. His next 21 outings have had some wobbles, and he tended to get in trouble when he couldn’t throw his out pitch – a hard-biting sweeper – for strikes or fell behind early in counts. His stock will likely never be higher, and Chaim Bloom is expected to gauge the trade value for O’Brien, JoJo Romero and Ryne Stanek at the trade deadline. Honorable mention: George Soriano

Rookie of the Year: JJ Wetherholt. This one, of course, is a no-brainer with Wetherholt having a chance to be the first Cardinal to win the National League honor since Albert Pujols in 2001. The rookie homered in his first MLB game, had a walk-off winner in his second game and he’s already had two multi-homer games. His glove is already Gold Glove caliber, and he might become just the second rookie in franchise history – Brendan Donovan was the other in 2022 – to win a Gold Glove as a rookStandou

At the plate, pitchers have been giving him more spin – usually in on his hands – because his quickness is so elite at getting to fastballs. His ability to drive the ball the other way for homers and doubles is already All-Star level. He’s had his peaks and valleys, but his maturity and demeanor have helped him ride those out so far. Just imagine how good he’s going to be when he isn’t seeing all these pitchers and ballparks for the first time. Honorable mention: Nathan Church  

Comeback Player of the Year: Lars Nootbaar. Double heel surgery in October and already back running without pain for the first time in years? Enough said. Honorable mention: Pallante

Remember to join our CARDINALS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other CARDINALS fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!