Reds fans’ nightmare might come true if Cardinals’ Oli Marmol fails in 2024

If you really hate the St. Louis Cardinals, you better root for them to make the postseason in 2024. Now that may seem a bit counterintuitive, but there's a method to the madness.

There's no manager in the National League Central, and perhaps all of baseball, who's under more pressure to win in 2024 than Oliver Marmol. The Cardinals' skipper is under an immense burden to overcome last season's shortcomings and go from worst to first. And strange as it may sound, Reds fans, you should be cheering for Marmol's success.

If St. Louis doesn't make it back to the playoffs in 2024, and perhaps even if they do, the Cardinals will make a change at the top. And every Cincinnati Reds fan knows exactly who'll take Marmol's place in 2025.

Reds fans’ nightmare might come true if Cardinals’ Oli Marmol fails in 2024

If Marmol and the Cardinals fail to return to the NL Central mountaintop in 2024, he'll be fired. And guess who's his replacement will be? That's right, Yaider Molina. And if for some reason Molina isn't the choice, Albery Pujols will be.

Anyone who's seen Molina over the past few years knows that he's got his eye on leading a clubhouse in the very near future. Molina managed the Criollos de Caguas during the Caribbean Series this past winter. Last week, Pujols made his intentions known by saying, "If the opportunity is right one day, I think I’ll be ready for that."

I didn't even want to go here for fear of making every Reds fan who's reading this feel a little sick to their stomach, but the possibility exists for Molina to be the Cardinals manager and Pujols to be St. Louis' bench coach.

Sorry, Reds fans. But this is the reality if Marmol and the Cardinals don't have a successful 2024 campaign. Of course, this is the same organization that fired Mike Shildt after going 90-72 in 2021 with a 17-game winning streak to close out the season. So it's possible that anything short of a World Series championship could be Marmol's undoing.

Reds fans can't have nice things. After finally ridding themselves of David Ross in Chicago, they were gifted with Craig Counsell now leading the way for the Cubs. Having finally seen the last of Molina and Pujols in a Cardinals uniform, it stands to reason that they'll be back in the St. Louis dugout by this time next year. No Reds fan wants to see that, but it feels like a safe bet if Marmol doesn't have success.

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