Cardinals Reveal Determining Factors For Trade Deadline Blockbusters

The St. Louis Cardinals have been the biggest surprise of the National League, for sure.

There weren't high expectations for the Cardinals heading into the 2025 campaign. There were rumors left and right about how the Cardinals would cut down the roster and fans and media pundits alike didn't have many positive things to say.

St. Louis has been great, though. The Cardinals are in second place in the National League Central with a 31-24 record. Right now, there are only four teams in the National League with more wins than St. Louis. The Cardinals have 31 wins right now and the only teams right now with more wins are the Philadelphia Phillies (35), New York Mets (34), Chicago Cubs (34), and the Los Angeles Dodgers (34).

May is just about to end. June will be here soon and that's when things really start to heat up around the league. The Major League Baseball Trade Deadline will come and pass on July 31st. The month of June typically is when teams start to really know what direction they are going in the standings.

If the Cardinals keep playing the way they have lately, that will be a good direction for the organization. We'll see what happens. Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak recently sat down with Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and noted that the standings and "where the team is at physically" will help the team make trade deadline decisions.

"The Cardinals entered the winter prepped to trade veteran players and started the season aware they could be busy at the trade deadline trying to flip short-term players for long-term depth and prospects," Goold said. "Ryan Helsley, Steven Matz and Erick Fedde all figured to draw interest from outside — but the play heading toward June is changing the internal conversation.

"The standings and where we are physically will be a lot of how that’s dictated," Mozeliak said. "Right now, I think letting it be very organic has been fun."

The Cardinals are putting themselves in a position to consider not tearing down the roster, for sure.