Central STL News

Willson Contreras will miss the remainder of the 2025 season due to a right biceps strain, the St. Louis Cardinals announced Wednesday. The decision comes as the team’s playoff chances continue to diminish following a 6-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at Busch Stadium.

Contreras was placed on the 10-day injured list after an MRI revealed a mild strain in his right biceps. Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said that while the injury is not severe, continuing to play could make it worse. “This is one [injury] that can get worse if we try and push through it,” Marmol said. “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.”

Contreras explained that he has been managing discomfort for several weeks. “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 loss leaves St. Louis five games behind in the National League Wild Card race with only nine regular-season games remaining. Several teams, including Arizona, Cincinnati, San Francisco, and New York are ahead of them in the standings.

Andre Pallante started for St. Louis on Wednesday but struggled again, giving up four runs over five innings and allowing a three-run home run to Spencer Steer of Cincinnati. Manager Marmol noted adjustments are needed: “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.” He added: “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.”

After suffering multiple injuries last season—including a fractured forearm and broken finger—Contreras was moved from catcher to first base for 2025 in hopes of keeping his bat in play more often.

Contreras played 135 games this year, posting team-leading numbers with 20 home runs and 80 RBIs while hitting .257/.344/.447 and recording a career-high 31 doubles—a mark that places him among National League leaders.

Defensively, Contreras excelled at first base despite being new to the position; he finished with plus-6 outs above average according to MLB metrics—ranking fifth among all major league first basemen—and trailed only two teammates in defensive value.

Manager Marmol praised Contreras’ adaptation: “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].”