Most losses by a Cardinals team:

[CCard]

I say they fall just short of losing 100 games. Maybe about 95 losses. Injuries could be a factor in it being higher. Apparently Scott, Walker and Gorman can't hit. Noot and Herrera can't stay on the field. Starters are Libertore (5 to 6 innings), McGreevy (5 to 6 innings), Pallante (5 to 6 innings), a cast of unknown unproven minor league pitchers. The minor league pitchers we acquired in recent years can't even get on the mound for the Cards. Combine all that with the fact that the other teams in the Central have gotten better with the exception of the Brewers taking a step back (losing some starting pitching). If everything falls right, and I mean everything, the team could maybe come within sniffing distance of a playoff berth, but there's just too many question marks for that to happen. Some, maybe a majority of those question marks will fail. Of course DeWitt could change this dynamic by signing some major talent. But I don't think that was his plan.

[rockondlouie]

No

2026 Team > 2025 Team

If they stay healthy, then 80 - 84 wins.

They lost their best pitcher and arguably their two best hitter….and you see improvement? OK

I see 70-92 all day long. This team will not score and their pitching isn’t good enough to overcome that.

D. May is capable of matching S. Grays' 4.28 ERA.

Two best hitters?

C'mon bubbles you're reaching now...............I'll give you WillyC but NADO?

The addition of JJW replaces WillyC's offense (in a different way) + a full year (fingers crossed) of I. Hererra.

And bye-bye to horrible M. Mikolas, (E. Fedde) and A. Pallante out of the SR.

2026 Team > 2025 Team

[rockondlouie]

No

2026 Team > 2025 Team

If they stay healthy, then 80 - 84 wins.

Wow, that's some strong Kool-aid there my friend.

No Kool-aid CC

They likely aren't going to the playoffs but their going to be better than last seasons team.

Hang in there, I think you're going to be surprised.

[Bubble4427]

No

2026 Team > 2025 Team

If they stay healthy, then 80 - 84 wins.

They lost their best pitcher and arguably their two best hitter….and you see improvement? OK

I see 70-92 all day long. This team will not score and their pitching isn’t good enough to overcome that.

D. May is capable of matching S. Grays' 4.28 ERA.

Two best hitters?

C'mon bubbles you're reaching now...............I'll give you WillyC but NADO?

The addition of JJW replaces WillyC's offense (in a different way) + a full year (fingers crossed) of I. Hererra.

And bye-bye to horrible M. Mikolas, (E. Fedde) and A. Pallante out of the SR.

2026 Team > 2025 Team

I wasn't talking "Nado"...I was talking about Donovan.
This team won't score.
Forget about positions...just talk about players in the lineup. Last years team struggled to score and you think they improved?
JJW is not going to put up Contreras numbers...but I do think he can put up Donovan numbers.
The ONLY way this team is decent offensively is if Walker and Gorman both wake up...hit 25-30 HR's and hit .265.

[rockondlouie]

No

2026 Team > 2025 Team

If they stay healthy, then 80 - 84 wins.

They lost their best pitcher and arguably their two best hitter….and you see improvement? OK

I see 70-92 all day long. This team will not score and their pitching isn’t good enough to overcome that.

D. May is capable of matching S. Grays' 4.28 ERA.

Two best hitters?

C'mon bubbles you're reaching now...............I'll give you WillyC but NADO?

The addition of JJW replaces WillyC's offense (in a different way) + a full year (fingers crossed) of I. Hererra.

And bye-bye to horrible M. Mikolas, (E. Fedde) and A. Pallante out of the SR.

2026 Team > 2025 Team

I wasn't talking "Nado"...I was talking about Donovan.
This team won't score.
Forget about positions...just talk about players in the lineup. Last years team struggled to score and you think they improved?
JJW is not going to put up Contreras numbers...but I do think he can put up Donovan numbers.
The ONLY way this team is decent offensively is if Walker and Gorman both wake up...hit 25-30 HR's and hit .265.

Yea I figured that out after I posted, sorry bout' that.

I agree w/you that JJW is capable of replacing Donny's offense.

I also think we could more offense out of a full season of Hererra and a continued upswing in offense from Burly.

Noot & Winn both were hampered by injuries last season, healthy they should both see an uptick.

And like you said, any improvement from Norman, Walker and VSII will help since they can't (WE HOPE) go any lower.

[Strummer Jones]

I see us having a similar year to last year. 78-80 wins.

We've lost some good players, but we've also trimmed some of the reasons why we were bad. Mikolas is gone. Fedde is gone, and Pallante will probably not get anywhere near the same innings. And if he does, we'll probably be in bad shape through reasons that don't run through Andre.

This... except losing the two best bats (Contreras and Donovan) means Noot/Gorman/Walker will really have to take some steps forward to keep them around the same record (plus Wetherholt holding his own, which I think is pretty likely).

I think low 70s is more realistic as their ceiling, even believing their pitching will be better.

I could certainly see that, too. Absolutely agree that the offense will decide how well this team does. I don't think the pitching will be great, but it will be competent. And it will have plenty of options if someone goes down.

[nighthawk]

The Cardinals lost 105 games in 1908

The "modern day" record is 93 losses in 1978

Do these records come crashing down this year?

As of right now I have them at 70-92

The 1908 Cards finished with a .318 winning percentage, which would be 110 losses in today's 162-game season. There's probably less than a 5% chance of that happening. When the 1908 team finished with the .318 winning percentage, it was the fourth consecutive year that they finished under .400, a franchise record that would stretch to five years in 1909. That is a true benchmark of horrific play.

So, what are the odds that the current team finishes under .400 or 97 losses. I give it a less than 10% chance. The last time a Cardinal team finished under .400 was in 1919.

[shebashab]

The Cardinals lost 105 games in 1908

The "modern day" record is 93 losses in 1978

Do these records come crashing down this year?

As of right now I have them at 70-92

No there are a whole bunch of smaller market teams trying to convince their fanbase that they are attempting to compete with the Dodgers when everyone knows that isn't possible. They will beat each other to keep the façade up.

[Adam2]

they are not losing 100. 90 losses at most