How St. Louis Cardinals fell to the bottom of National League - ESPN

The Cardinal Way needs a GPS.

Going into the season, the St. Louis Cardinals were heavy favorites to repeat as National League Central champions. Instead, they've sputtered to an NL-worst 14-25 record — and almost certainly lost the formula that had led to four straight playoff appearances. St. Louis' struggles came to a very public head last weekend when the team announced it was pulling Willson Contreras from the catching role just 32 games into a five-year, $87.5 million contract.

A franchise known for its even-keel front office, steady clubhouse and consistent play had played its way to the bottom of the NL Central on the field and turned into a soap opera off of it.

«It's pretty simple,» third baseman Nolan Arenado told ESPN. «It's not a collection of good baseball that we've been playing.… It's just not Cardinal baseball. Not putting people away, not making plays, not any timely hitting. It's hard for me to criticize anyone because I haven't been playing very well either. And that really hurts.»

No, not even a star like Arenado is immune from the Cardinals' early woes. After finishing third in the NL MVP voting last season, the third baseman is hitting just .252 with a .671 OPS nearly a quarter of the way into the season. But no team falls 14 games under .500 this early in the season because of just one player — or even a handful.

«Really, this first month was a perfect storm of badness,» veteran Adam Wainwright said. «We didn't lose all those games because of one player.»

Here's what has gone wrong for the Cardinals — and how they hope to turn their season around.

What happened to the Cardinal Way?

This has always been a franchise that prides itself in focusing on the little things — things that often win close