The St. Louis Cardinals dropped their fifth straight game with a 6-0 series-opening loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. Hopes were high that ace Sonny Gray could put an end to the skid, but even he couldn’t steady the ship.
Gray cruised through the first four innings, giving up just three hits and one run. But the fifth inning unraveled quickly, and the game slipped away. Afterward, Gray admitted he wasn’t feeling at his best, recognizing early on that he didn’t have his usual command.
Gray sounded completely deflated after the game, reflecting the gloomy mood surrounding the St. Louis clubhouse. To put it bluntly, the vibes aren’t good. Manager Oli Marmol, who had seemingly quieted some of his critics not long ago, now appears unable to inspire his team to push through the rough patch and respond with resilience.
Sonny Gray says the quiet part out loud about Oli Marmol amid Cardinals slump
“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Gray said, via John Denton of MLB.com. “It wasn’t good, I wasn’t good, we weren’t good, and we’re not playing good. Just nothing good.”
His candid words perfectly captured the Cardinals’ current state — a team struggling to find answers, rhythm, or momentum.
Given how harshly Sonny Gray is criticizing himself—and how bleak things look right now—this feels like a pivotal moment for Oli Marmol to step in and reestablish belief within his clubhouse. Sure, it was a rough outing for the three-time All-Star, but the despair in his tone signals something deeper than just a bad start. The Cardinals are still above .500 and within striking distance of a Wild Card spot, which suggests the problems may be more psychological than structural.
But if Gray’s comments are any indication, Marmol is struggling to inspire much of anything in the current moment. Right now, he can’t seem to rally his players to do something as basic as refocus—let alone string together a bounce-back run. His message isn’t resonating, and that disconnect appears to be seeping into the team’s morale and on-field performance.
Still, the postseason is far from out of reach. The drought-snapping goal is alive and well. The big question now: How will the Cardinals respond, and can Marmol get this group to believe in each other—and themselves—again?
Alarm bells are sounding in St. Louis as Cardinals struggles continue
Cardinals fans—and Sonny Gray himself—are understandably feeling like the sky is falling in St. Louis. Following the Brewers’ narrow 3-2 win the day after dismantling Gray, the Cardinals’ losing streak has now reached six games. Each loss adds weight to an already heavy atmosphere, and it’s clearly taking a toll on everyone from the dugout to the fanbase.
What once looked like a promising 2025 season, with St. Louis jumping out to a 34-27 start, is quickly unraveling. This recent cold spell isn’t just a bump in the road—it’s starting to feel like a harsh reality check. The early-season success is beginning to look more like fool’s gold than a sign of sustained competitiveness. And unless Oli Marmol and his squad find a way to course-correct soon, that once-bright postseason outlook could fade just as fast.
