Docs Website

53 Years Strong! A Trusted Leader In Sports Picks, Best Bets and Predictions Since 1971.

Main Menu

2025 St. Louis Cardinals Predictions with World Series Odds and Season Win Total Picks

by Ryan Cobbett - 3/14/2025

St. Louis Cardinals predictions Sonny Gray

The St. Louis Cardinals missed the playoffs last season after posting a 83-79 record. They did finish second in the NL Central and finished seven games better than their expected record of 76-86, but they still missed the postseason by six games. Their -47-run differential was the worst mark among teams with a winning record.

Shortstop Masyn Winn proved to be the Cardinals’ most valuable position player last season, as he led the team with a 4.9 WAR. Winn hit 15 homeruns, recorded 57 RBIs, and led the team with 85 runs and five triples. Wilson Contreras finished second with a 2.9 WAR despite appearing in only 84 games last season. Paul Goldschmidt led the Cardinals with 22 homeruns and was joined by Alec Burleson (21) as the only other Cardinals player to hit more than 20 homeruns last season. Outfielder Michael Siani led the team with 20 stolen bases, while Goldschmidt and Winn both swiped 11 bases and were the only other Cardinals players to reach double-digit stolen bases. As a team, the Cardinals ranked 22nd in runs, 22nd in homeruns, 15th in OPS, 22nd in stolen bases, and 16th in doubles.

The pitching staff fared much worse for St. Louis. They finished 16th in the league with a 4.04 ERA and 18th in WHIP. The Cardinals were one of the few teams that saw their entire starting rotation reach the 100+ innings mark. Miles Mikolas led the team with 171.2 innings, but he finished with a team worst 5.35 ERA and finished the season with a -0.2 WAR. Kyle Gibson and Sonny Gray both pitched more than 165 innings last season, but the two combined for just a 2.7 WAR and a combined 4.04 ERA. The real highlight for the Cardinals pitching staff was their bullpen. Ryan Helsley, John King, and Andrew Kittredge were a dangerous trio for St. Louis last season. Helsley led all Cardinals pitchers with a 3.0 WAR after converting 49 saves and posting a 2.04 ERA across 66.1 innings of work. Kittredge and King combined to throw 130.2 innings and posted a combined 2.83 ERA.

Doc’s Sports offers MLB expert picks for every game on our baseball predictions page.

St. Louis Cardinals Key Additions/Losses

After an unsuccessful campaign last season, the Cardinals had a rather quiet offseason. They declined the option on Lance Lynn, Gibson, and Keynan Middleton, while Goldschmidt, Kittredge, and Matt Carpenter all hit the free agent market as their contracts expired.

The team successfully plugged the hole left by Kittredge in the bullpen by adding relievers Nick Anderson and Phil Maton. However, aside from adding those two relievers, the Cardinals were rather quiet this offseason.

St. Louis Cardinals Prospect Outlook

The Cardinals farm system is weak, and that is not a good thing as they are already projected to be bad again this season. St. Louis has the 19th ranked farm system in the MLB, and they have three prospects who made the MLB’s Top 100 Prospects rankings. JJ Wetherholt is the top prospect in the system and is the 23rd ranked prospect in the league. Wetherholt is behind Winn in the depth chart and will benefit from another year in the minors. Left-handed pitcher Quinn Mathews is the second ranked prospect in the system and the 45th ranked prospect in the MLB. Following Mathews is right-hander Tink Hence, who is the 76th ranked prospect in the league. Mathews and Hence are both expected to provide valuable depth to the Cardinals pitching staff this season.

St. Louis Cardinals X-Factors

Masyn Winn/Jordan Walker/Nolan Gorman- This trio was once thought to be the next elite wave of prospects for the Cardinals, keeping them competitive and even taking them to the next level. Winn broke out last season, posting a 4.9 WAR, but Gorman and Walker have been shaky to start their careers. Walker has a combined -1.0 WAR in his two seasons, and he hit just .201 last season with just five homeruns. Gorman had a solid 2023 campaign where he hit 27 homeruns and tallied 76 RBIs, but he had a down year last season. Winn and Gorman have just one good season under the belts, while Walker has yet to really pan out. All three prospects are 24 or younger, so there is plenty of time for them to figure it out. However, with a weak farm system and an uncharacteristically bad MLB roster, the Cardinals future hinges on these three.

Front Office- The front office has been dealing with Nolan Arenado all offseason. And while nothing has materialized on that front, the Cardinals will still be looking to ship him off at some point this season. In addition to Arenado, much of their pitching staff can be dangled as trade bait, as the Cardinals are in desperate need of establishing a new foundation to build upon. They will need to be creative and hope their once highly-touted prospects can bud into producing players.

St. Louis Cardinals Expectations

The expectations are for the Cardinals to see a significant decrease in their win total from last season. They should be in a dog fight with the Pittsburgh Pirates for last place in the NL Central standings, and they will be amongst the worst teams in the league this season. They have very little value at the big-league level as of now, and some of that value will be shipped off at the trade deadline. St. Louis will need to be fully invested in their future and focus on developing their prospects and adding some more young talent through the draft and trades.

St. Louis Cardinals Notable Odds:

Win Total: 75.5

World Series Champions- +13000

Pennant Winners- +5500

Division Winners- +1000

NL Cy Young- Sonny Gray +3500

NL Cy Young- Erick Fedde +18000

NL Rookie of the Year- Thomas Saggese +2500

NL Rookie of the Year- Quinn Mathews +5000

2025 St. Louis Cardinals Predictions

There is not one Cardinals player that will be in serious contention for any of the major awards this season, unless Arenado can turn back Father Time about eight years to get back to his old self. However, that won’t happen. And aside from Arenado, there is not anyone on this roster that screams MVP or Cy Young. We could see Mathews or Hence be in the running for NL Rookie of the Year. However, with neither pitcher starting in the rotation, they would need to see a Paul Skenes like breakout to win the award, and neither of those pitcher’s project to be on the same level as Skenes. As for the projected win total of 75.5, last season the Cardinals may have won 83 games, but their expected record was 76-86. So, if you eliminate the bad hops and other chance events that benefited the Cardinals last season, they would be closer to that 75-win mark, and they are in worse standing than they were last season. I expect the Cardinals to struggle to win 70 games this season, and I will be on the southside of their win total this season.

Get MLB picks on every single game, or if you want our very best bet premium picks by the experts, sign up for your free $60 account with a guarantee.

 

Most Recent Baseball Handicapping

One E-mail A Week Is All You Need!
Our weekly newsletter is loaded with exclusive free picks,insight and advice from our expert handicappers