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St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Shildt was fired on Thursday over “a philosophical difference in the direction” of the club.

Cardinals managing partner and chairman Bill Dewitt Jr. said on a video call as the news broke that the decision to move on was borne of growing differences between president of baseball operations John Mozeliak and Shildt.



Shildt guided St. Louis to the National League wild-card game on the legs of a 17-game winning streak in September. The Cardinals lost the postseason game in Los Angeles when Chris Taylor belted a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.

“We have determined that we have a philosophical difference in the direction that our Major League club is going,” Mozeliak said.

Mozeliak shared Thursday that he met with Shildt earlier in the day. When informed of the franchise’s decision to make a change, Shildt was “shocked,” Mozeliak said.

The Cardinals have agreed to part ways with Manager Mike Shildt.

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) October 14, 2021

The team will consider members of the current coaching staff for the managerial opening.

Move At ‘A Higher Level’

The 53-year-old replaced Mike Matheny as manager in 2018 and collected a 252-199 record in that position. He was National League Manager of the Year in 2019, when the Cardinals won 91 games and the National League Central. St. Louis won 90 games in 2021.

“Though the team was managed well,” Mozeliak said in a Zoom call on Thursday, “this is not a reflection on simply wins and losses. It’s more at a higher level — where we saw the team going and where we wanted it go.”

The Cardinals were 4-9 in the playoffs under Shildt.

Shildt has ties with the organization and Mozeliak dating to his crossover from scouting to coaching in 2004.

–Field Level Media (@FieldLevelMedia)