After players started barking to celebrate home runs and victories, the Cardinals adopted a homer chain and a rallying cry for the 2026 season. It's worked quite well so far with the Cardinals surging to 22-15 and a season-best seven games over .500.
ST. LOUIS – The rallying cry for the 2026 season for the St. Louis Cardinals – “Got that dawg in me” – started with some random barking in the dugout and a quick shopping spree on Amazon.
Upon the Cardinals winning their first series of the season against the Rays, rookie outfielder Nathan Church celebrated with his teammates by barking to the laughs of others. Then, following a Cardinals homer, Church started barking again and teammates followed in and it spread throughout the dugout.
Ultimately, Cardinals players decided they needed a home run chain to go complete their dugout celebrations, and utility infielder/outfielder José Fermín sprang into action. Fermín found the fake gold chain on Amazon and plunked down the cash so the team would have jewelry to celebrate major accomplishments, such as home runs.
Reserve catcher/first baseman Yohel Pozo is in charge of keeping up with the chain and placing it onto the neck of the Cardinals player who goes deep in games – as he did with Alec Burleson in Thursday’s fourth inning when the slugger drilled a 378-foot smash over the wall in right field. Teammates usually then join in with some playful barking to bring the whole “dawg” theme together.
“We’re just playing a game and at Wethe end of the day, it’s just a game,” Fermín said with a smile. “We’re all trying to do our best, win ball games and have fun. So, something like this (home run chain) is just adding to the fun that we’re having.”
The Cardinals have had plenty of fun so far this season by winning early-season series against the Rays, Mets, Nats, Guardians, Astros, Pirates and Dodgers. They swept road series in Pittsburgh and Houston and came out of Thursday's 2-1 win over the Padres with a 12-5 road record – good for MLB's best winning percentage (.706) away from home.
“I feel like we’re having fun with everything we’re doing and that’s really a big key for us this season,” catcher/designated hitter Ivan Herrera said following a recent home victory over the Brewers.
Cards' young players bonding over team success, fun
The Cardinals have MLB’s second youngest roster and the league’s youngest group of position players. To many of their 20-something players, the home run chain and the playful barking are just extensions of their youthful energy and their desire to have fun playing the game they love.
“We’ve got a bunch of young guys trying to prove themselves in this game and we’re all trying to pull on the same string and win as many games as we can,” said Church, who has solidified the Cardinals defense in left field with his three home run robberies defensively.
Cardinals' utility fielder José Fermín hit his second career MLB homer this season. He is hoping to hit another one to wear the team's new homer chain. Asked playfully if he indeed has “that dawg in him,” Fermín put down a challenge for himself.
“I guess I’ll have to hit another home run to find out,” said Fermín, who homered earlier this season and has two career MLB home runs.
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