Cardinals legend could retire from MLB at season's end, per insider

The St. Louis Cardinals are longshots to reach the postseason but are hanging around in the National League Wild Card race, sitting 5 1/2 games back of the final spot.

This offseason, they may undergo a few changes with their roster, with a fan favorite set to enter free agency. Unlike Paul Goldschmidt, who has revealed he will play in 2025, this fan favorite may ultimately be hanging up his spikes.

Matt Carpenter has been a fixture in a Cardinals uniform for several years, but Will Leitch of MLB.com predicts that he will ultimately retire at the end of the 2024 season.

"Carpenter actually made his debut with the Cardinals on their 2011 World Series championship team, albeit going 1-for-15 in only seven games. He established himself as an on-base force the very next season, finishing sixth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting, and he became a beloved Cardinals staple over the next decade with his preternatural batting eye and eventually a power stroke," Leitch wrote. "He finished in the top 12 of MVP voting three times, and he was briefly a folk hero in the Bronx when he went on a power surge for the Yankees in 2022. He'll likely say goodbye with the Cards over the last month of this season."

The 38-year-old spent two seasons away from St. Louis before returning this past offseason. While the Cardinals aren't likely to reach the postseason, he has been a key veteran voice in the clubhouse and has helped several of St. Louis' younger players improve this season.

Carpenter is a two-time All-Star and he even helped guide the Cardinals to the World Series in 2013. But he is now 38 years old and near the end of what has been a fabulous career.

He'll almost certainly be enshrined in the Cardinals Hall of Fame in the future, and if this is his final run, it's only fitting that it takes place in St. Louis.

We'll see if Carpenter retires or if he might have one more season left.

More MLB: Cardinals unlikely to make major front office changes, per insider