After MLB-best May, can Cardinals’ depth keep them winning in June?

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We’ve passed the one-third mark of the season, and we still aren’t sure what the ceiling is for the St. Louis Cardinals.

What we do know: The team’s floor seems much higher than originally projected.

After a frustrating April in which the Cardinals went 11-16, St. Louis powered through May with a 19-8 record, the MLB’s best mark of the month. The Cardinals hit .258 and their pitching staff had a 3.40 ERA, with both numbers ranking seventh in the majors. The Cardinals (33-26) enter play Tuesday seven games over. 500 with a +30 run differential and four games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs in the National League Central.

April showers, May flowers indeed.

10 strikeouts today makes 1800 CAREER STRIKEOUTS for Sonny Gray! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/LXspJir4jp

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 31, 2025

But with a new month comes new challenges. St. Louis has just one remaining off day this month, which sets them up to play 28 games in 29 days. What makes that stretch concerning is factoring in how much the Cardinals benefited from their schedule in May. The team had a scheduled off day on four consecutive Thursdays, making it easy for manager Oli Marmol to give his starters ample rest. This month, he’ll have to be creative.

“We were able to run our (starting) lineup out there almost every day,” Marmol said. “We mixed and matched a little bit to give guys days off leading into a scheduled day off, that kind of thing. But for the most part, we had our lineup out there. In June, we’re going to have to give guys more of a blow and use our bench differently than we did in May.”

There are several ways to look at this. The lack of off days presents Marmol with an ability to use a rotation of position players, which would allow someone like Nolan Gorman to play more. There are staples in the lineup: Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras, Masyn Winn, Pedro Pagés, Victor Scott II and Lars Nootbaar will still start most games at their designated positions. But the defensive flexibility of Brendan Donovan will allow Gorman to see additional starts at second base when one of the above players needs a rest day. Alec Burleson (first base, outfield) and Iván Herrera (catcher, designated hitter) being able to play multiple positions also helps with the rotation.

The Cardinals will be without Jordan Walker (10-day injured list, left wrist inflammation) for at least a week, but they are optimistic he won’t miss much time. He’ll be eligible to come off the injured list over the weekend. When he returns, Marmol is confident he’ll still be able to find consistent playing time for Gorman.

Gorman had been the odd man out for most of May, but the Cardinals want to find ways to work his bat in more regularly. In 91 at-bats this season, Gorman is hitting a dismal .187/.280/.297 with just one homer and nine RBIs. But Marmol and hitting coach Brant Brown are encouraged by Gorman’s underlying metrics, namely his strikeout rate, which has dropped from 37.6 percent in 2024 to 27.1 percent this year.

“What’s tough for Gorman is when you look under the hood, he’s making more contact, he’s chasing less, he’s walking more,” Marmol said. “Yes, the bat speed is down, but that’s at the expense of making contact. He needs a run of games to show that it’s coming into play.”

When it comes to starting pitching, Marmol and pitching coach Dusty Blake have been intentional with their rotation scheduling for a reason. With limited depth in Triple A, the Cardinals needed to keep their starters on a six-day schedule for as long as possible. They did that easily in May because of the scheduling. That scheduling also allowed Steven Matz, who served in the hybrid role between the rotation and bullpen in April, to take over as a more traditional reliever in May.

Moving Matz to the bullpen full-time was instrumental in the Cardinals’ success in May. Before their series loss to the Texas Rangers over the weekend, Cardinals relievers posted a 2.90 ERA in the month. Matz registered a 3.00 ERA in six relief appearances and held hitters to a .235 average and .559 OPS. While the Cardinals might consider moving Matz back to his hybrid role, that would leave them scrambling for coverage in the bullpen. It would also leave them short on innings in the rotation on days he starts, as he’s no longer built up.

“All of that comes into play,” Marmol said when asked about Matz and the upcoming pitching plans. “You are taxing your bullpen by giving your rotation a break, depending on how you do it.”

One option that could be on the table for St. Louis is using Michael McGreevy as a spot starter in June. McGreevy is 6-1 in 10 games for Triple-A Memphis this season with a 3.02 ERA and 54 strikeouts over 50 2/3 innings. He’s scheduled to take his next start on Tuesday at AutoZone Park, but could be a candidate for a call-up after that.

McGreevy has thrived in the spot start role before, and the Cardinals would not be risking his long-term development if they use him as a sixth starter, even temporarily. That would also allow them to keep Matz in the bullpen, where there would be less risk of the team being unable to cover innings.

This is what Marmol and his staff will be balancing as St. Louis rolls into the new month. The Cardinals have been one of baseball’s more surprising teams. Despite a grueling schedule, they’ll hope to keep building off May’s success and avoid a June swoon.

“Everyone has those stretches,” Marmol said. “You prepare for it and put your head down and get through it, so that’s what we’ll do.”

(Photo of Nolan Arenado: Ron Jenkins / Getty Images)

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