Nolan Arenado Injury Update: Cardinals superstar placed on IL, likely ending his impressive seven-season streak

The St. Louis Cardinals have placed superstar third baseman Nolan Arenado on the 10-day IL after experiencing back spasms. The eight-time All-Star joins a growing list of Cardinals veterans on the injury list, including Willson Contreras and Dylan Carlson.

"The #STLCards have placed Nolan Arenado (back spasms) and Willson Contreras (wrist tendinitis) on the 10-day IL, per the club. Their seasons are likely done. Dylan Carlson (ankle surgery) transferred to the 60-day IL. INF Irving Lopez selected & OF Mike Siani recalled from MEM." - @JohnDenton555

The news of Nolan Arenado's injury is disappointing, however, it has been that kind of season for the St. Louis Cardinals, who entered the season as a legitimate World Series contender. At 67-86, the St. Louis Cardinals have already been eliminated from playoff contention, which makes Arenado's placement on the IL unsurprising as they look towards next season.

Although the St. Louis Cardinals have little to play for at this point in the season, the potential season-ending injury has put an impressive streak by Arenado in jeopardy. The 10-time Gold Glove Award winner has a streak of seven straight seasons with at least 30 HRs and 100 RBIs, now it appears that his back spasms will snap the impressive run.

"With #STLCards star Nolan Arenado (low back spasms) heading to the 10-day IL, his streak of seven straight seasons with at least 30 HRs and 100 RBI (excluding 2020) will end. He has 26 HRs and a team-best 93 RBI in 144 games played this season." - @JohnDenton555

Through 144 games this year, the St. Louis Cardinals third baseman has racked up 26 home runs and 93 RBIs, while also maintaining a .266 batting average. The fact that Arenado is now on the IL and the Cardinals only have nine games remaining in the regular season all but guarantee that his impressive stretch of production will come to an end.

Nolan Arenado's placement on the IL may draw an end to one of the most disappointing in his career

Although Arenado has endured some lean years when he was a member of the Colorado Rockies, the fact that the 2023 St. Louis Cardinals had World Series aspirations, as well as the reigning National League MVP, makes this losing year more disappointing.

In 2022, Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt helped lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a division-winning 93-69 record. While the team ultimately failed in the postseason, losing the Wild Card Series to the Philadelphia Phillies, they entered 2023 with the intention of making amends for the 2022 collapse. Instead, the Cardinals produced their first losing season since 2007.

"The Cardinals fall to 65-82 after tonight's loss, meaning that this season will officially be their first losing season since 2007" - @TalkinBaseball_