Nolan Arenado calls out struggling Cardinals offense in fully-justified mic drop

On Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium, the St. Louis Cardinals lost to the Chicago White Sox, MLB's worst team, for the second straight day. That result secured a series loss to the Southsiders, meaning the Redbirds dropped 2-of-3 against a team that now has just eight wins on the season. But hey, it's a long season and things can turn around, right?

Don't you dare tell that to Cardinals star third baseman Nolan Arenado!

In the wake of Sunday's loss and the disheartening series loss, Arenado was clearly fed up with the performance on the field and he laid into the Cardinals as a whole with his comments, calling out the entire team, from the players to manager Oli Marmol and everyone else involved in this team's shortcomings that lasted throughout 2023 and through the start of the 2024 season as well.

Speaking with John Denton of MLB.com about the current frustrations, he unloaded on his team:

"It's high and it should be high," Arenado said. "Guys shouldn’t be OK with what’s going on. I know we have a lot of games left, but that’s an ongoing excuse and we can’t continue to use that. We know that there’s a better feeling there, and we have to continue to push. I don’t know what else to say."

Nolan Arenado calls out Cardinals after series loss to White Sox

Despite going 0-for-4 in Sunday's loss to the White Sox, Arenado has overall been practicing what he's preaching here in regards to not making excuses. After a poor start to April that leveled off throughout the month, he's been on a torrid pace in the month of May, slashing .545/.615/1.000 coming into Sunday with two doubles, a home run and six RBI.

But it's a message that the rest of the Cardinals need to hear. Whether it's been Marmol, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, or some of the players, we've heard plenty over the past two years about how talented this team is. And to be sure, it is. At a certain point, however, there is a reason why the talent isn't translating into wins and why the team is 15-19 this season after finishing 71-91 a year ago.

It may be a long season that's left to turn it around, but it takes a long look in the mirror and real changes for that to actually take place. That's what Arenado is talking about here, making the necessary on-field and perhaps even mental changes that will yield tangible and improved results. He's clearly started to do that based on his performance. However, baseball has nine players in the lineup every day. He can't do it alone.

What changes need to be made is hard to totally quantify. A multitude of Cardinals fans would argue that firing Marmol would be the first major step to improvement -- and that it would've helped after last season instead of extending him. Maybe it's something that can be done in the cages or in the bullpen.

But without question, Arenado is right. The Cardinals have been making excuses for a year now, and the results haven't changed. So everyone in the clubhouse has a right to be frustrated, yet that frustration is absolutely in vain if there aren't actions associated to try and remedy the situation.