There's opportunity in the road ahead

Look beyond the surface, and the Cardinals' remaining schedule gives them a real chance to overcome that disastrous start to the season

We all know a glance at the Cardinals’ current record – eight games below .500 – conceals their recent trajectory. Since dropping to a season-worst 14 games below .500 on May 6, the Cardinals have won eight of 10. Over that same span, they’ve peeled a 10-game deficit in the NL Central down to 6 ½ games. 

That’s good, if belated. Now, though, let’s repeat and re-frame those numbers in a bottom-line context: after 44 games, the Cardinals are eight games under .500 and 6 ½ games out of first place. As such, they’ll need to win at a .610 clip the rest of the way in order to get to 90 wins. That comes to 72-46 over the final 118 games of the regular season. This presupposes that 90 wins is necessary in order to make the playoffs, but thanks in large measure to those three available wild-card berths in each league the cutoff will probably be lower. 

That necessary win figure is a moving target, of course, but even with that uncertainty the remaining schedule merits a closer look. That’s especially the case insofar as the general matter of making up for the unexampled depths of those first 34 games. So let’s do that now.