Less than a sports betting month ago the St. Louis Cardinals were being mentioned in the same breath with the Milwaukee Brewers as two teams that had a strong chance of winning the National League Central division. Fast-forward four weeks later and the Cardinals are facing a double-digit deficit just to catch the Brewers for first place, with the NL Wild Card another goal that is well beyond reach at this point. While they may have a chance at turning things around before the season is over, the problems that the franchise is facing now span well beyond this MLB betting season.

While the team isn’t likely to continue trending downwards at this pace for the remainder of the year, they shouldn’t be expected to perform that much better than .500. But while the players head out fishing once the regular season is over, management will get to work in St. Louis looking to keep Albert Pujols in town for years to come. The speculation around the league is that the fact that the Cardinals have done so bad down the stretch won’t hurt their chances of keeping their star slugger in the fold for years to come, as there is clearly talent to build around. With Lance Berkman approaching the end of his career, fans in St. Louis are unsure of what to expect going forward. Matt Holliday will be there as the management looks to keep the nucleus together, but there is still a lot of work to do as the Cardinals attempt to become contender’s for future years.