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Four Cardinals prospects received Texas League honors after Class AA Springfield’s historic season, including the league’s top two accolades.

Top Cardinals prospect JJ Wetherholt was named Texas League MVP on Tuesday, and left-hander Ixan Henderson was named the league’s pitcher of the year. Wetherholt and Henderson also received Texas League postseason All-Star honors alongside outfielder Joshua Baez and lefty Brycen Mautz.

SAN FRANCISCO — Gentlemen, tap your helmets.

The automated ball-strike (ABS) challenge system that was utilized with such relish by hitters and catchers alike this past spring training will be part of regular-season and postseason games in 2026, Major League Baseball announced Tuesday. The robo-umps have arrived.

SAN FRANCISCO — Rather than write Brendan Donovan into the lineup only to have to take him out if his leg was sore or stiff, Cardinals manager Oli Marmol flipped the script Tuesday afternoon and, after consulting with the infielder, decided to have Donovan force his way into the lineup.

Almost three hours before first pitch, Donovan took ground balls to make sure he could comfortably make explosive moves. He went to a back room in the visitors clubhouse to receive treatment, stretch and prepare to take swings to see if his leg would support the necessary posture to drive the ball. Then, he tested his swing in an underground batting cage.

SAN FRANCISCO — Staying true to their season and this scrappy finish from a team picked apart at the trade deadline, the Cardinals stared elimination from the playoff race in the face late Tuesday night – and shoved it back for one more day.

The Cardinals scored twice in the ninth inning to reverse the game on the Giants and complete a comeback from a five-run deficit. Brendan Donovan’s record-tying feat and Victor Scott II’s fleet feet combined to tie the game before Alec Burleson’s single sent them to a 9-8 stunner against the Giants at Oracle Park.

SAN FRANCISCO — It took only a few minutes of talking with Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas about Major League Baseball’s game-changing adoption of the Automated Ball Strike system for 2026 before the veteran started to think of ways it might bend his strategy.

Consider the curveball.

SAN FRANCISCO — When talking with his father ahead of Monday’s late game against the Giants, Cardinals utility fielder Jose Fermin described what he considered the “biggest hit of my career.� It wasn’t his home run in the majors. It wasn’t another of the hits that drove in runs or helped extend a rally.

It was a single in a forgettable inning of a forgettable September game — except it will always be unforgettable for Fermin.

SAN FRANCISCO — There was the moment orchestrated by his manager Sunday to assure Nolan Arenado received one final ovation as he left Busch Stadium’s field, and there is a conversation with the new front office the third baseman has planned in the near future. There were the pangs of nostalgia he felt throughout the most recent homestand and then the questions posed to him at the end of it.

One asked whether these games seemed like his last as a Cardinal.