After nearly a decade old experience calling games for the St. Louis Cardinals, veteran broadcaster Jim Edmonds has drawn curtains, citing the current state of the team. The news came Monday morning for Edmonds, who had been in the booth of the Cardinals since 2016.
The Cardinals legend went on a rant to highlight the dire state of the team. It's not only the lackluster performance in the regular season but also their spring training facilities that has left Edmonds so disappointed and fed up that he won't return to call games in 2025.
"I haven't gone really down in spring training the last couple of years," Edmonds said. "It's not fun anymore. They don't make you feel like you're wanted. ... Indoors in the inner inner circle. It's just not the same. It's not the same organization.
"It's not fun to be around. ... they make it pretty obvious, even the security guards like, ‘Hey, you know, it might not be a good time.’ I'm like, fine with me. I don't need to be in there. You know, I don't, if you don't want me to tell your pitchers that they're tipping their pitches, or this guy's pulling off, and I don't really give two shits about it."
Atlanta Braves Hall of Famer Chipper Jones took note of Edmonds' criticism for the Cardinals as he reacted:
"👀"
Broadcast team wishes Jim Edmonds well following his decision to not come back
Soon after Jim Edmonds let the FanDuel Sports Network know that he has decided not to return to the booth for the 2025 season, the network released a statement wishing him well.
"We want to thank Jim for his many contributions to our Cardinals coverage over the last 10 seasons and wish him the best," the statement read.
The Cardinals have really struggled to adopt the modern MLB movements. Amid high payrolls, the franchise hasn't spent much, and as Jim Edmonds testified, their farm system isn't in good shape as well.
That has translated to the team missing out on qualifying for the postseason in 2023 and 2024. Even in the two years before that, they barely made the cut, only to lose in the wild-card series. Their last deep postseason run came in 2019, when they lost in the NLCS.