Cardinals facing Opening Day reality they haven't seen in decades

Unfortunately, the winds of change have not been kind to Cardinal Nation. For the first time since 1995 — the same year the DeWitt family purchased the franchise from Anheuser-Busch — the Cardinals' famous Opening Day revelry may not be in front of a sell-out crowd. 

The painfully obvious decline in support is a sign of the times and reflects exactly where the franchise is — and deserves to be. Rather than just making the transition after the wildly disappointing 2023 and 2024 campaigns, ownership chose to retain embattled president John Mozeliak and manager Oli Marmol for the '25 season as successor Chaim Bloom prepares to take over in 2026.

With the March 27, 2025, home opener against the Minnesota Twins drawing near, thousands of tickets remain. It's been a while since anyone could say that around the Lou.

Busch Stadium III opened in 2006 and had never had fewer than 3 million fans in attendance until 2024 when the official tally halted at 2.8 million.

The most compelling evidence wasn't the turnstile figure but the sometimes shocking visual headcount. Although they may have sold that many tickets, people were making a statement with the uncustomary optic of empty red seats at Busch. 

As the season wore on, tickets could be found dirt cheap online, and it'll be interesting to see how 2025 unfolds with a mix of anger and apathy present. 

In what many can only describe as a puzzling move, the front office still has key people employed whom the fanbase associates with what was often described as a dysfunctional think tank. 

The former MLB organizational template of how to build a winning foundation in professional baseball has some necessary mending of the fences now for their incredibly loyal legion of fans in St. Louis.