We are approaching the final year of John Mozeliak’s employment at the leadership of the St. Louis Cardinals. After the 2025 season and the end of his contract, the veteran executive has declared that he will not be returning to his position as president of baseball operations for the Cardinals.
He will be in charge of baseball operations for the Cardinals for the 18th time in 2025. Under Mozeliak’s direction, the team has won two National League Pennants, made ten postseason appearances, and won a World Series Trophy. They have one of the best winning percentages since the 2008 season and have won the National League Central six times during that time. During his tenure as head coach, John Mozeliak has guided the Cardinals to a period of prosperity.
But the past few years have been a bust. Only once since 2016 have the Cardinals made it past the first round of the playoffs, and during the past two seasons, the team has fallen from its position as the best baseball team in the world. In recent years, everything have become stale.
This is not to suggest that John Mozeliak has not succeeded in building his team and acquiring players. In reality, the Cardinals were the best team in Major League Baseball for a number of years in the early part of his career.
As Mozeliak’s career comes to an end, I wanted to look back at the top players he brought in. These may be acquired through drafting, free agents, waiver claims, or trades. I got the idea for this article from Bernie Miklasz’s article on the “All-Time Walt Jocketty Team” on Scoops. Although I was a baseball fan before John Mozeliak took over, I have been an avid supporter of the team for the longest time under Mozeliak.
First, let’s talk about the coaching team.
The All-Mozeliak Coaching Staff Manager: Mike Shildt (252-199, .556 winning percentage)
Mike Matheny was close here. His final record of 591-474 with a winning percentage of .555 falls barely shy of Shildt’s record. However, I chose Shildt simply due to his ability to lead the squad through hardship. Shildt was manager during the chaotic COVID season, and Shildt led the Cardinals to a wild 17-game winning run to make a bid for the playoffs that year.
St. Louis fell to the Washington National, the eventual World Series winners, in the 2019 NLCS, and they made postseason berths the next two years under Shildt. Mike Shildt has a minor reference to his predecessor, Mike Matheny, because of his ability to motivate his players and manage with a fire.
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