The St. Louis Cardinals will head into the offseason when Sunday’s game against the Chicago Cubs finishes, regardless of the outcome, as they have officially missed the postseason for the third consecutive year. The series against the Cubs holds little meaning for either team.

The Cardinals will send Miles Mikolas, Matthew Liberatore and Michael McGreevy to the mound against the Northsiders. Mikolas is potentially pitching in his last game for the Cardinals, closing the book on a seven-year stay in St. Louis after returning to the states from a stint in Japan. Behind him, Liberatore and McGreevy are the only two pitchers who can be seen as locks for next year’s rotation as Andre Pallante has not won a game since July and Sonny Gray appears ready and willing to accept a trade out of St. Louis.

On the offensive side, the Cardinals shut down Masyn Winn for the year as he will undergo surgery to repair a torn meniscus. Willson Contreras ended his season as the team’s leading power threat, smashing 20 homers for a team that sits near the bottom in all of baseball in long balls. Ivan Herrera is second on the team with 18 bombs, Alec Burleson has the best all-around numbers, and Brendan Donovan has been on a doubles streak since returning to the lineup. However, major questions remain as Jordan Walker continues to look overmatched, Pedro Pages and Jimmy Crooks have been underwhelming offensively, and Nolan Gorman has not taken advantage of increased playing time. With Nolan Arenado returning for his last series with the Cardinals, it will be interesting to see how many games he plays in this weekend.

This series will not tell us much, if anything, about what to expect next season as there figures to be plenty of turnover on the 26- and 40-man rosters. The pitching staff will be completely different and there is likely to be at least one trade of someone from the lineup to clear up space for JJ Wetherholt or others to slide in. Chaim Bloom has already had his hand in a few spots here and there, but fans know very little about what his strategy is going to be for the offseason as the organization has officially entered a multi-year rebuild.

Bloom could provide some clarity quickly after the season, but he may also want to give personnel time to disconnect from baseball after another grueling season. Either way, this will be one of the busier, albeit upsetting, offseasons in recent Cardinal memory as they attempt to kickstart the organization back into contention before the next decade.