On July 14, the Cardinals lost, 8-2, at home to the Reds in a game that was plagued by two extended rain delays, two ugly errors, one of the most baffling double switches I've ever seen and a Busch Stadium crowd that was doing a collective impersonation of 40,000 sad mimes. (My son still had a great time.) The Cards fell to one game over .500, 7 1/2 games out of first place in the National League Central, four games out of the second NL Wild Card spot and to a place of fan displeasure and disinterest the franchise hadn't been in roughly 25 years.
After the game, Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak fired manager Mike Matheny, the third-longest-tenured manager in the NL, and installed Mike Shildt, a longtime organizational stalwart, who'd been serving as bench coach. Since that move, the Cards have been arguably the best team in baseball.
There are many reasons Matheny probably needed to be fired, but still, firing a manager isn't supposed to make that much of a difference. Busch Stadium has gone from a peeved morgue to rocking every night as loud as it did in Jose Pujols' heyday. The Cardinals have won eight in a row, they have won six consecutive series, and they are now only one game back for the second NL Wild Card spot and four games out of first place in the NL Central. It is, in its own way, as remarkable a turnaround as that famed 2011 comeback in which the Cards were 10 1/2 games out of the NL Wild Card on Aug. 24 and came back to win it and go on to win the World Series.
How is this happening? Here are 10 things that have changed during this remarkable month -- and an evaluation as to whether or not these changes are sustainable.
1. The bullpen makeover
Firing Matheny was the biggest change Mozeliak and general manager Mike Girsch made in the past month, but the bullpen shakeup is a close second. Cardinals relievers had been nightmarish in 2018, with free agents like Luke Gregerson, Brett Cecil and (especially) Greg Holland imploding alongside expected contributors Tyler Lyons and Matt Bowman. On July 27, Mozeliak and Co. decided they'd had enough, waiving Holland and Lyons, trading Sam Tuivailala and placing Cecil on the disabled list with a suspiciously undisclosed foot injury. The bullpen essentially became Bud Norris and the kids, a cross section of young arms up from Triple-A Memphis. The turnaround was instantaneous. Daniel Poncedeleon, Mike Mayers, Dakota Hudson and Jordan Hicks, all rookies, along with Norris and Yankees import Chasen Shreve have stopped the bullpen's bleeding and have become legitimate weapons for Shildt to deploy in a far more inventive fashion than his predecessor. And it might get even better soon. When Carlos Martinez returns from the disabled list (right oblique strain), he will be pitching out of the 'pen, not the rotation. Suddenly, the club's fatal flaw is its strength.

2. Matt Carpenter
Cardinals fans watched Pujols put together one of the greatest 11-year spans in baseball history while he wore the Birds on the Bat. It was like watching Ted Williams every day for 11 years. Here's the thing about Carpenter: Since June 1, he's been better than Pujols ever was at any point of his Cards career. Carpenter's slash line in that span: .309/.424/.699, for an OPS of 1.123. That's better than any year of Pujols' career, even his NL MVP Award-winning seasons in 2008-09. Carpenter has turned himself into the best hitter in baseball over the past three months, and it's culminated in conjunction with the Cardinals' current run, including a stretch where Carpenter hit eight homers in six games.

3. Rotation flexibility
The current rotation has only two of its original five members: Miles Mikolas and Luke Weaver (who missed his last start with a sliced right finger). The Cardinals have lost Martinez, Michael Wacha (left oblique strain) Adam Wainwright (right elbow inflammation) and Alex Reyes (right lat) to injuries. But their remarkable Minor League pitching depth has saved them. Austin Gomber, who had been helping from the bullpen, has now thrown 11 scoreless innings over his past two starts. John Gant has given up just two runs in his past two starts, both wins. And Jack Flaherty has become a sleeper NL Rookie of the Year Award candidate, compiling a 3.22 ERA and the team's highest strikeout rate among starters (11.1 K/9). Shildt has shown a quick hook, something that has proven particularly helpful for pitchers like Weaver, who typically struggle the third time through a lineup. Considering the injuries they've had, that the Cardinals' one constant all season has been solid starting pitching is remarkable.
4. Harrison Bader
Your bWAR leader among rookies this year is not Ronald Acuna Jr., Juan Soto, Gleyber Torres or Miguel Andujar. It's Bader.

Bader is second in fWAR, but you get the point. After the Cardinals traded Tommy Pham to the Rays ahead of the non-waiver Trade Deadline, they handed the center-field job to Bader, who's responded by showcasing his otherworldy defense, blinding speed and real pop in his bat. Perhaps just as important, Bader plays with an exuberance that's undeniably contagious. 
• Bader becoming a fielding superstar

5. Lineup clarity
One of the major issues plaguing Matheny -- and one that wasn't his fault -- was figuring out how to get everybody enough at-bats, particularly among outfielders. Marcell Ozuna was entrenched in left field (his bat has shown some more life this month, for that matter), but the other spots were in constant flux, with Pham, Bader, Jose Martinez, rookie Tyler O'Neill and the profoundly struggling William Fowler. That issue has been resolved, at least temporarily. Pham has been traded, Fowler broke his left foot and Martinez has shown he can handle right field enough to justify keeping his bat in the lineup (though Shildt regularly subs him out in late innings). Shildt is a more creative manager than Matheny, but Shildt doesn't actually move his lineup around that much. Everybody now knows their role.
6. Good fortune
The Cardinals have now won six consecutive series, with four of them coming against teams who had a winning record. However, St. Louis did catch those clubs at good times. The Cubs and Rockies were still steadying around the Deadline, the Pirates were sorting themselves after trading for Chris Archer, the Marlins and Royals are the Marlins and Royals, and the Nationals had just lost a nationally-televised game on Sunday Night Baseball against the Cubs in the worst possible fashion. The schedule remains difficult moving forward: St. Louis has three against Milwaukee at home after Thursday's series finale against Washington, and then it travels to Los Angeles and Colorado.
7. Defensive improvements
Bader has locked down the outfield now, but the infield defense has been much improved as well, with Paul DeJong back to normal after a left wrist injury, Jedd Gyorko holding down third base and, mostly, Kolten Wong on a great run. The defense still makes errors, but it's more stable than it's been at any other time this season. Yairo Munoz, on the DL with a right wrist strain, has shown position versatility that's been a big help too, when he's healthy. 
8. The salsa
It's also possible that it's just the salsa.

9. Yadi 
Oh, yes, we should probably talk about Yadier Molina. The 36-year-old missed a month earlier this year after being hit directly in the groin by a foul ball, and he's already seventh in innings caught in MLB history. Molina hasn't had a day off since the All-Star break, and his last full day off -- the last day the Cardinals played and he didn't -- was on July 8. How has Molina responded to this usage? He's gotten better. His second-half slash line is .318/.377/.464, and he's batted exclusively in the No. 2 spot since Shildt took over. Molina is also still making plays behind the plate:

Molina is basically the Tom Cruise of baseball at this point. You have no idea how he's doing all these stunts at this age, and rather than question it, you can only just sit back and marvel at it. Molina has stepped up his game since the Cardinals got hot. As St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Derrick Goold put it, it's "WBC Yadi, World Series Yadi." Molina is always at his best when his team has something good cooking, and he's at his best right now.
10. Shildt
Shildt is new to St. Louis fans, but he's not new to the Cards' players, many of whom have worked with him over their entire careers. He runs a drama-free clubhouse, with a daily meeting that Carpenter has said is like "daily therapy." And Shildt has proven himself to be strategically inventive in a way that is far more in line with the front office than Matheny ever was. Even when the Cardinals were still playing .500 ball in the first week or so after Shildt took over, you could still see a clear and obvious difference in the team, both on and off the field. You could tell it was different. Shildt is still officially the Cards' interim manager, but the way things are going, he might not stay that way for long.