Before I begin discussing a “Planet of the Apes” movie … and please stay with me on this, because the film is actually relevant to my daily weekday feature: The Cardinals Spring Training Question of the Day.
First, I must pound my chest like a gorilla, and hoot about something: I am burned out on “leadership” obsession as it pertains to the 2026 St. Louis Cardinals. A new era of Cardinals baseball began in the early-morning sunlight of Camp Jupiter.
This is a big deal, but the trading of Brendan Donovan did not plunge baby-bird Cardinals into an immediate leadership crisis. There is no emergency. A “new” team leader will emerge in time, and it will happen naturally.
The way Cardinals manager Oli Marmol fields these pepper-ball “Who Will Lead This Team?” questions that come at him with reliable frequency, you’d think he was standing in the infield dirt, scooping ground balls.
“People think of leadership where you all of a sudden are standing in front of the room and speaking,” Marmol said. “It happens way more organically. No one goes from not leading to ‘I'm the guy.’