Wild stat shows just how putrid the Cardinals offense has been

The Blueprint for the 2024 St. Louis Cardinals to make any noise was clear from the start. They were a team relying on length from their starting pitching, strong late-game relief, and a potent offense.

After losing for the second time in three games to the Colorado Rockies at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals sit at 30-33 on the season. Their bullpen has been great, but the reason why St. Louis is under .500 is because their starting pitching hasn't been good enough and their offense has been putrid all year.

Even last season when the Cardinals won 71 games they were still 19th in the majors in runs scored. Not great, but 11 teams scored fewer. This season, however, they're 27th in runs scored. That is a major issue, and something that is only exaggerated by this one statistic.

Cardinals anemic offense can be summed up by this one statistic

Former Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong hit his 11th home run of the season on Saturday in the Chicago White Sox victory. DeJong looked like he'd be a star for the Cardinals when he made the All-Star team in 2019 but struggled in the four seasons that followed before being traded at last year's deadline to the Toronto Blue Jays for a low-level prospect.

DeJong signed a deal with the White Sox this past offseason and has hit for more power than every Cardinals player but one, Nolan Gorman. What makes matters worse is his OPS would be the fourth-highest on the Cardinals.

This Cardinals team is loaded with hitters who, on paper, should be producing, especially in the power department. Paul Goldschmidt entered this season with 340 home runs under his belt. He had hit at least 24 home runs in each of the last eight full seasons (excluding 2020). He has seven over two months into this season.

Nolan Arenado began this season with 325 career home runs. He had hit at least 26 home runs in each of the last eight full seasons (again, excluding 2020). He has six so far this season. Both players have stayed healthy, they've just been largely non-factors.

Other players who are expected to hit for power like Jordan Walker and Lars Nootbaar have underperformed dramatically. Walker has spent most of his season in the minor leagues.

DeJong has outperformed all of them by a substantial margin. He has a higher OPS than all of them. He has just one fewer RBI than Goldschmidt and six fewer than Arenado despite playing on the 17-48 White Sox. It's a joke.

Gorman is the only player with more than 11 home runs, and 10 of those have come since mid-May. Even he was a non-factor in April. The next-closest player to Gorman's home run total on the Cardinals is Alec Burleson who has eight, and six of those have come since May. Again, he didn't do much in April.

As a team, the Cardinals are tied for 22nd in the majors in home runs. Not a single team that ranks below them is above or even at .500. Teams that hit home runs win games, and the Cardinals don't do that nearly enough.

Gorman is going to need help, and lots of it, if the Cardinals want to make serious noise. DeJong outproducing the likes of Arenado and Goldschmidt is completely unacceptable.