The St. Louis Cardinals picked in the lottery this season and last year selected inside the top 10, where they selected top prospect JJ Wetherholt. As the team looks to make a final push at the wild-card spot, if they were to miss out on October baseball, the team will be eligible to select in the lottery once again, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
While the Cardinals selected inside the top 10 in back-to-back seasons, the lottery is considered a top-six pick, and their selection of Wetherholt with the No. 7 pick in last season’s draft falls outside of the lottery window. Despite “losing” the lottery, the selection that landed Wetherholt has worked wonders, as last season’s draft choice is pushing for his major league debut.
If the Cardinals land a top-six selection again next season, they will no longer be eligible for a lottery pick in 2027; conversely, if they were to fall out of the lottery next season, they would be eligible in 2027 and 2028.
The Cardinals’ season has been disappointing after what looked to be a strong start. The team has fallen apart since July, but now the season might not be looked at as a complete failure if the team can secure a top draft selection once again.
The team on the field is not focused on the potential draft selection that they can earn; their main objective is to find their way into the postseason and make the draft lottery meaningless to the organization.
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