Not even a 17-game winning streak or an improbable postseason berth were enough for Mike Shildt to keep his job as the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. The franchise made a decision to fire Shildt on Thursday, making the move a week after the Cardinals’ NL Wild Card game loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Shildt’s exit was rather unceremonious, with the franchise announcing the news with a short message on Twitter.
Detailing the decision in a chat with the media, the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said that the organization and Shildt had some “philosophical differences” that ultimately caused the two sides to part ways.
“All I can say is where we felt the team was going, we were struggling to get on the same page,” Mozeliak said via ESPN. “With him having one year remaining on his contract, we could have gone into 2022 having that over him, and we just decided that internally it would be best to separate now and take a fresh look as we head into a new season.”
Mike Shildt started his time with St. Louis Cardinals as a scout in the early 2000s and worked his way to becoming a coach in the minors. He was promoted to MLB in 2017 when he became the Cardinals quality control coach. Shildt then served as a third base coach and the team’s bench coach before being named the interim managed after Mike Matheny was fired midway through the 2018 season.
Shildt soon earned the full position and ended the campaign with a 41-28 record. He followed that by leading the Cardinals to three consecutive postseason trips that included the NL Central title and the NL Championship Series appearance in 2019.
