The St. Louis Cardinals suffered a 2-1 loss in the rubber game of a three-game set with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday, and after the offensive struggles, manager Oliver Marmol spoke on the batting order and how it could look down the stretch as the Cardinals look to earn a playoff spot, saying that where we are in the year and the standings are dictating those decisions.

“Yeah, I mean if it was April, May, June, July, that's what we did during that time,” Oliver Marmol said, via Bally Sports Midwest. “August, I mean, we gave them, so now you got 40 games left. You gotta take your best shot. It could look different every day.”

The Cardinals are playing the platoons, trying to give themselves the best matchups each day, even though it might not be a consistent lineup for Marmol's team. It is a desperate time for St. Louis, as the team is five games back of the Atlanta Braves for the final Wild Card spot in the National League. The New York Mets are three games ahead of the Cardinals, while the San Francisco Giants are a game ahead as well, so the Cardinals will need to leapfrog two teams before passing a third to get into a playoff spot.

Cardinals lineup disappoints in rubber game vs Dodgers

It was a disappointing loss in the rubber game against the Dodgers, as most teams would expect to win holding that team to two runs. Marmol expressed that sentiment in the postgame as well.

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“We navigated that lineup as well as we could, gave ourselves a shot,” Marmol said, via Bally Sports Midwest. “At the end of the day, this is gonna come down to if we hit enough, if we drive the baseball, if we slug, if we situationally hit, if we execute runners in scoring position once we do create those opportunities, so today, we weren't able to do that.

It does not get any easier for the Cardinals as they will host the Milwaukee Brewers in a three-game set this week at home. It is a huge series for the Cardinals, even though they are unlikely to make a run at the division title at this point in the year. The schedule does not lighten up much in August, as St. Louis has series against the Minnesota Twings, San Diego Padres, New York Yankees and other playoff teams. It will be interesting to see if St. Louis can make a run down the stretch this season.