Cardinals vs Pirates: St. Louis fans melt down as bats vanish at a terrible time

The St. Louis Cardinals had to be licking their chops entering a road series against the AL Central cellar-dwelling Pittsburgh Pirates that concluded on Wednesday. After all, the Cardinals had been rolling to end the month of June and had closed the rival Cubs' lead in the division to just 2.5 games. Rather than take advantage of that, though, they squandered it completely, and Cardinals fans are rightfully perturbed with Wednesday's 5-0 loss to the Buccos being the exclamation point on that.

Put simply, the St. Louis offense was dead on arrival when it came to Pittsburgh. They failed to score a single run in the entirety of the three-game set, getting shutout for three straight days. That's not winning baseball, obviously. Perhaps the best indication of that would be on Tuesday in the middle game of the series. Andre Pallante and Phil Maton allowed just one run and six baserunners across eight innings, and that was still enough to lose the game.

It's one thing to lose a couple of games to a division rival, even one that has struggled in the ways the Pirates have this season. It's another and more humiliating thing entirely, though, to lose in such demoralizing fashion. And fans were quick to vice their displeasure with the Cardinals to provide an encapsulation of the frustration resulting from this series, the finale in particular.

Cardinals vs. Pirates: St. Louis fans fed up after three straight shutout losses

Some fans couldn't help but make their quips about just how brutally anemic the Cardinals offense was against the Pirates. One Redditor, u/uwbadger5 put it succinctly by saying, "This offense is offensive." Others were less brief, but still got the point across about the offense all the same.

Others were, in fact, mad and not just disappointed, though. There were plenty of Cardinals fans who were looking at this three-game series as an indictment on the 2025 team as a whole. And that left many of them deeply in their feelings (and ready to sell off parts at the trade deadline).

Perhaps the best comment in regard to the anger toward the Cardinals came on Reddit from u/No-Elephant-9854 in saying, "Worst series of baseball I've ever seen, and I'm unfortunately not all that young."

Cardinals fans have reason to be upset, but hope isn't lost

Make no mistake, every fan has a right to be in their feeling after a series loss and a finale like that to cap it off. At the same time, take a deep breath if you are one of those fans. The Cardinals are still 47-41 while also playing this series without Nolan Arenado and with Lars Nootbaar missing another outing, among other ailments. These kinds of stretches happen.

But it's always important to remind yourself that it's a 162-game season and a three-game series, no matter how ugly, is ultimately a blip on the radar in that mix. The Cardinals now get an off day before playing a weekend series against another rival in the Chicago Cubs as they travel to the Windy City. Considering that St. Louis recently split a four-game set with their bitter divisional foes, they have the ability to change the vibes quickly.

If they're able to use the rest day to their advantage and come to Chicago and take the series, the sour sentiments of Wednesday will feel like a lifetime ago. However, the Cardinals should probably feel a little pressure to do exactly that, because fans clearly aren't feeling great about this team after the trip to Pittsburgh.