Willson Contreras' (biceps) season ends with Cards' playoff hopes fading

ST. LOUIS -- Willson Contreras' 2025 season is over because of a right biceps strain, and the Cardinals’ playoff hopes are close to suffering a similar fate with another loss to the rival Reds on Wednesday afternoon.

One day after describing Contreras’ injury as a mild strain in his right biceps, the Cards ruled their slugging first baseman out for the season as he was placed on the 10-day injured list before their 6-2 loss at Busch Stadium.

With their playoff chances already slim -- and even more so following their seventh loss in nine games -- the Cardinals shut down Contreras to try and prevent him from injuring his right arm even more over the final nine games of the regular season.

“This is one [injury] that can get worse if we try and push through it,” manager Oliver Marmol said of an injury that has bothered Contreras for weeks and a strain was found upon imaging on Tuesday morning. “It’s currently a mild strain, but it could turn into something much worse. With where we’re at [in the standings] at the moment, it doesn’t make much sense to get him to push through this, so we made the call to end his season.”

Added Contreras: “I’ve been dealing with the bicep tightness since before [Sept. 5] and lately it’s been getting a little tired and worse than before, and we’re just trying to be careful. I’ve explained to the doctor what I am feeling and we’ve just tried to take it day by day.”

The Cardinals had already locked up the season series against the Reds for the 19th time in the past 25 seasons and a winning home record vs. Cincinnati for the 18th straight year from 2007-25. However, Wednesday’s loss dropped the Cards (74-79) five games back of the Mets (78-73) for the third National League Wild Card spot -- pending New York's result against San Diego on Wednesday night -- with Arizona (77-76), Cincinnati (76-76) and San Francisco (76-76) also ahead of St. Louis in the Wild Card standings.

Pressed into improving his secondary pitches and finding ways to modify his primary out pitch for the previous three seasons, Cardinals’ right-hander Andre Pallante showed again on Wednesday that a major makeover will be needed to firm up his spot in the starting rotation for 2026.

Pallante, who turns 27 years old on Thursday, remained winless since July 28 and dropped his eighth straight decision after surrendering four runs on six hits and three walks over five innings. The big blow was a three-run home run by Reds first baseman Spencer Steer off Pallante's four-seam fastball that has totally betrayed the right-hander in 2025.

After holding foes to a .227 batting average with three home runs and eight extra-base hits in 2024, opponents came into Wednesday hitting .313 with 12 home runs and 34 extra-base hits off that pitch this season. Following Steer’s Statcast-projected 411-foot blast on the first pitch of his fourth inning at-bat, Pallante’s numbers continue to trend in the wrong direction.

“There’s a real part of the league adjusting to [Pallante],” Marmol said. “When you have -- let’s call it a trick pitch because it’s a [cutting] fastball that the rest of the league doesn’t have -- it’s difficult to combat until you become familiar with it. He has to understand how to use his other stuff better to flip it on the league.

“We saw him have success [in 2024] and we saw him not have success this year, and now the ball’s in his court to make adjustments.”

Following an injury-filled 2024 season that included a fractured right forearm and a broken right middle finger, Contreras was moved from his catching position to first base to try and keep his bat in the lineup more often in ‘25.

Contreras, 33, handled the switch gracefully, thriving defensively at first base and becoming the Cards’ most productive hitter in 135 games. In addition to slashing .257/.344/.447 with team highs in home runs (20) and RBIs (80), Contreras hammered out a career-best 31 doubles. His double total ranks 12th in the NL.

Even more impressively, Contreras proved himself to be one of MLB’s top defensive first basemen in his first year at his new position. His plus-6 outs above average are tied for fifth in all of baseball. In terms of Cardinals defenders, Contreras ranked only behind shortstop Masyn Winn (plus-21) and center fielder Victor Scott II (plus-17).

“I thought he did a really nice job of adjusting to the new position,” Marmol said. “He took to it quickly and did a much better job than many would have anticipated. His footwork was really good around the bag, and he did a tremendous job over there.

“Offensively, even with the [slow], you look at his numbers and he did a nice job. We’re happy with the transition to first and what he provided for us outside of that [offensively].”