Adam Wainwright Thinks These Cardinals Aren’t Done Yet, Probably Because His Cardinals Never Were

Let's remember one of the weirdest teams of the 2000s and early 2010s.

There’s no truth to the rumor that Adam Wainwright’s 2025 Cardinals playoff prediction came after “just one more” champagne bottle. (Ron Vesely/MLB via Getty Images)

Former St. Louis Cardinals ace — and general all-around good guy — Adam Wainwright made mild internet waves a few days ago when he tweeted his prediction that the Cardinals would go on a late-summer run, potentially clinching the playoffs in the final days of the regular season:

Aside from having a little fun and stoking a conversation amongst Cardinals fans, though, Wainwright’s bold take had me thinking about how you might be more inclined to believe the improbable if you’ve seen it before.

Sure, the Cardinals have been hovering around 10 percent playoff odds, down from 32 percent at the All-Star break. And sure, St. Louis added zero net WAR talent while losing 5.1 at the trade deadline, making them the league’s fifth-biggest seller. There’s little to necessarily suggest this particular squad can leapfrog both the Reds and Mets¹ in the wild-card standings to make the playoffs for the first time since 2022. But that’s not really important.

What matters is that Wainwright spent nearly two decades in a clubhouse that specialized in defying math — and when you’ve seen your team pull off the improbable enough times, nothing in baseball really feels impossible anymore.