Cardinals-Brewers may give St. Louis its best ammo to fire Oli Marmol

The St. Louis Cardinals made the highly-questionable decision to extend Oli Marmol in the offseason after posting their worst finish since 1990 and worst record since 1995.

That extension has put a damper on the idea the team could fire the manager this year but there will come a point when the extension is irrelevant. The further the Cardinals fall, the likelihood the eject button will get pushed rises. Doubling down on a bad decision doesn't lead to better results.

Could it come as early as this weekend?

Brewers series will be telling for Oli Marmol, Cardinals

The Cardinals begin a series with the Brewers on Thursday. The four-game series may be between the team at the top and bottom of the NL Central, but just six games separate St. Louis from Milwaukee in first place.

Winning the series would put the Cardinals right in the thick of the pennant race. Losing it could spell the end for St. Louis' hopes before the trade deadline.

The Brewers have already swept the Cardinals once this season.

Marmol would need his team to break out of a slump to avoid a negative outcome. They have lost four straight and seven of their last nine games. Somehow, they found a way to lose a series to the White Sox, accounting for two of their nine wins this season.

The only positive going into this series is that the Brewers aren't playing well right now either. They've lost back-to-back series to the Cubs and Royals. They're still in a much better spot than the Cardinals.

St. Louis has hit the fewest home runs in the National League. They have the fewest RBI and the second lowest batting average.

The players are responsible for those terrible numbers but the manager can't be totally free from blame. It's his job to figure out how to get individuals out of their slumps. It's his job to change things up at the right time to spark improvement. His attempts to do his job have all come up short so far.

If one key player was struggling that would be one thing. But just about everyone is stuck in a rut. The collective struggles point to the person at the top.

Don't get me wrong, firing Marmol wouldn't solve all the Cardinals' problems. They go higher up the chain than him. Still, a more experienced manager might have the wherewithal to stop the bleeding.