Death, taxes and St. Louis Cardinals fans losing their minds over every decision skipper Oli Marmol makes on their behalf. While St. Louis did get the win on Opening Day over the Minnesota Twins, 5-3, there was yet another moment where Marmol put his team behind the eight ball with a questionable managerial decision. This has everything to do with Marmol pulling starting pitcher Sonny Gray early.
Although Gray had struggled keeping the ball inside the park throughout much of spring training, he was pitching quite well vs. the Minnesota lineup before Marmol pulled him. Gray surrendered two earned runs on four hits, while striking out six over his five innings of work. Yes, he did give up another big fly, but he had only thrown 77 pitches. Kyle Leahy came in and nearly cost the Cardinals the game!
These are the type of managerial decisions where you are doomed if you do and doomed if you do not. If Gray was allowed to pitch in the sixth inning, maybe it could have been worse? Regardless, he was still the winning pitcher of record, but now doubt has seeped into the minds of Cardinals fans about their bullpen to some degree, and definitely when it comes to their hot-and-cold manager.
This is the season where St. Louis needs to take advantage of the NL Central being in transition.
FanSided has MLB Opening Day covered — from the players who dominate the day, the fans who live for it and the small details that make it special. Click here for more Opening Day stories around the league’s clubhouses and fan bases.
St. Louis Cardinals fans are already starting to question Oli Marmol again
A win is a win is a win is a win. However, there are 161 more of these for the Cardinals to navigate. If we are only one day into the regular season and people are beginning to question Marmol's managerial acumen, it is going to be a long season in St. Louis. Truth be told, the Cardinals are going to need more to go right for them than wrong to make the postseason, but I am not ruling it out yet.
What I am getting at is there are other teams in the National League with more firepower and a greater upward trajectory than St. Louis. You and I both know this. What is important to understand is every little decision matters when you do not have the greatest margin for error. In short, juggernaut teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers could afford to see way more bad decisions out of Dave Roberts.
Across the board, St. Louis should be happy to get an Opening Day win over Minnesota with its ace pitcher returning to form. It is a good barometer of what is to come. I view Minnesota in the American League in the same vein I view St. Louis in the National League. These are postseason contenders, but probably not much more than that. It is games like these where you have to win while you are ahead to stay afloat.
If St. Louis fails to reach the postseason, I would be shocked if they brought Marmol back in 2026.