This weekend's two-game London series between St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs has serious playoff implications. Both teams have a chance to rebound from a losing record in the first half of the 2023 MLB season to win the National League's weakest division. Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol is certainly not giving up hope, despite St. Louis' disappointing three-month stretch.

The upstart Cincinnati Reds lead the NL Central with a nine-game lead over the last-place Cardinals. Preseason expectations suggested that the standings were much more likely to be flipped with St. Louis sitting in first place. After winning the division in his first year as Cardinals manager, Oliver Marmol remains optimistic about his team's playoff chances.

“I've gone ahead and not looked at the standings at all for several reasons,” Marmol said on MLB Network. “But here's the reality: it's there for the getting. If we play the style of baseball that we're used to playing, and that we're going to play, then we have a shot. And that's the way I'm looking at it. We'll peek up here in a couple of months and see where we're at. But it's definitely gettable.”

The Cardinals hope that they hit rock bottom when Miles Mikolas surrendered six runs in a loss against the New York Mets on June 16. It marked St. Louis' sixth straight loss, giving the team an NL-worst 27-43 record.

The Cardinals followed the losing streak with four straight wins, taking series from the Mets and Washington Nationals. Could it mark a turning point for St. Louis?

“I feel like over the last couple of weeks we're starting to see it,” Marmol said when asked what it would take to turn the 2023 season around. “It's gonna take the team coming together and being a team. And the guys truly trusting one another.”