The St. Louis Cardinals' “devil magic” appears to be wearing off; they are poised to miss the playoffs for the third consecutive season, barring a major unforeseen turnaround towards the end of the season. They are also on pace for their second losing season over the past three years; the last time this occurred was before the turn of the century, when St. Louis struggled from 1997 to 1999.
While the Cardinals are in no way, shape, or form the worst team in MLB, their fans have grown accustomed to excellence from the team but have only gotten mediocrity over the past few seasons. And with a downturn in the team's level of play comes a more lukewarm reception from the team's typically passionate fanbase. The numbers don't lie.
According to Jeff Jones of BND.com, only 17,675 were in attendance to watch the Cardinals' 7-6 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday. This was the team's lowest gate attendance tally (with the exception of the COVID-riddled 2020 season) since August 25, 1997, when only 16,965 were in attendance at the Cardinals' old stomping grounds at Busch Memorial Stadium to watch their 2-1 loss to the Montreal Expos.
With a capacity of 44,383, the Cardinals' home of Busch Stadium has housed plenty of iconic moments. But fans haven't been getting treated to such memories lately. St. Louis ranks just 19th in MLB in average attendance, according to ESPN (28,828 per game), despite having the eighth-largest stadium in the league in terms of capacity.
At the moment, the Cardinals' fanbase is lying dormant. But as is the case in every league, every team experiences ebbs and flows, even a dynastic one such as the Cardinals. When they return to their typical brand of dominance, expect that attendance number to trend upwards once more, selling out the stadium like it's nobody's business.
Cardinals are stuck in neutral
The Cardinals have never been a team that bottoms out. Their 71-91 record in 2023 is their worst (in terms of win percentage) since 1995, as they do not typically bring up the rear in MLB.
It's not like the Cardinals have a bad team. They just lack a legitimate superstar talent to build their franchise around. Their offense is uninspiring, and their best position player, Masyn Winn, derives most of his value from being elite defensively at shortstop. Their pitching outside of Sonny Gray and Matthew Liberatore also leaves a lot to be desired.
Them having a 65-67 record is not surprising when they have so many average to slightly above-average players across the roster without having the star talent to take the team to the next level.
