The St. Louis Cardinals’ 17-game win streak late in the 2021 season helped cement former manager Mike Shildt’s status as a fan favorite. Now, with current manager Oli Marmol guiding the team through a nine-game winning streak and counting, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale praised Marmol for the club’s strong performance in what was widely expected to be a rebuilding year.
While the Cardinals might dispute the term “rebuild,” the sentiment holds weight: few expected them to contend for a playoff spot. Yet, with the team sitting just one game behind first place in the division, there’s renewed optimism in St. Louis—and Marmol has played a major role in that.
Marmol has been a major part of the Cardinals’ run of success.
Manager Oliver Marmol and pitching coach Dusty Blake opted to use a six-man rotation early in the season to give their starters extra rest as they built up stamina for the long year ahead. However, due to consistent bullpen struggles, they shifted plans, moving swingman Steven Matz into a full-time bullpen role.
Thanks to a generous number of off-days in May, the Cardinals could maintain their desired rest schedule for the starters. Matz has brought some much-needed stability to the bullpen, alongside solid contributions from Kyle Leahy and newcomer Phil Maton. With the starting pitchers consistently lasting deep into games recently, the bullpen has also benefited from more rest.
While the bullpen’s recent improvement isn’t solely due to Marmol, he also shouldn’t shoulder all the blame for its early-season collapse. Ryan Fernandez regularly struggled, and both John King and JoJo Romero were working through issues, leaving Marmol with limited reliable options—and even those needed rest, sometimes forcing his hand.
Marmol has also figured out how to best manage Miles Mikolas. The finesse right-hander has been effective for most of the 2025 season, outside of a rough second start. Mikolas has made adjustments to his approach, and Marmol has helped by limiting his innings.
In his most recent outing, Mikolas was pulled after 5.1 innings of one-run ball, despite having thrown just 69 pitches. Marmol’s strategy of keeping Mikolas from facing hitters a third time through the lineup has helped preserve his effectiveness.
Offensively, Marmol has been more flexible with lineup changes than in the past. He dropped Willson Contreras in the batting order during his early-season slump and promoted Masyn Winn to the two-hole. With multiple hitters performing well, Marmol has effectively managed lineup adjustments based on performance and matchups.
Defense has been a clear strength for the Cardinals in 2025, leading the majors with 25 defensive outs above average. That’s partly due to Marmol’s emphasis on defensive-minded lineups and the hiring of coaches Jon Jay and Daniel Descalso. Jordan Walker, despite offensive struggles, has made notable defensive progress, improving from -2 OAA in 2024 to +1 this season—crediting Jay for the improvement.
Some fortune has aided Marmol’s efforts as well. Most players have delivered, and the bold decision to move Contreras to first base has worked out surprisingly well. It could have backfired either in performance or willingness, but Contreras embraced the change and has been a net positive defensively, sitting one run above average at his new position.
Marmol has come a long way since making questionable calls like using Brandon Crawford as a pinch-hitter in key moments. If the Cardinals continue to overachieve, Marmol may find himself in contention for Manager of the Year.
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