[1] To replace the departed pitchers, the Cardinals promoted Adam Wainwright, who spent 2006 in relief and took the closer's job from injured Jason Isringhausen, to the rotation.

The team entered 2007 with a rotation of Chris Carpenter, Wells, Wainwright and Anthony Reyes, with reliever Braden Looper assuming the fifth starter's role until Mulder's return.

Every member of the Cardinals' playoff bullpen remained under contract for 2007, though the Cardinals signed free agent relievers Ryan Franklin and Russ Springer for reinforcement[3][4] and middle reliever Josh Kinney suffered an injury in spring training that required Tommy John surgery and forced him to miss the entire 2007 season.

[9] Later in April the Cardinals suffered a major setback when ace pitcher Chris Carpenter was placed on the disabled list due to arthritis and impingement.

[11] Hancock, a 29-year-old reliever who threw 77 innings for the Cardinals during the 2006 season, collided with a tow truck stopped on Interstate 64 to assist another motorist.

[19] Catcher Yadier Molina was placed on the disabled list on May 30 with a fractured wrist suffered from a foul tip that struck his hand while catching.

Kip Wells' terrible season continued on June 2, becoming the majors' first 10-game loser, and the first Cardinals pitcher in 16 years to lose ten games before the All-Star break.

[24] The Cardinals, whose starting rotation had fallen to dead last in the NL in ERA, acquired Mike Maroth from the Detroit Tigers for a player to be named later.

[29] New acquisition Troy Percival, a veteran relief pitcher who had been retired at the start of the season but signed a minor-league deal with St. Louis, earned a victory in his first big-league appearance in two years on June 29 against Cincinnati.

[30] (Percival became the fourth member of the 2002 World Champion Angels to play on the Cardinals, joining Kennedy, Spiezio and Eckstein, and the fifth ex-Angel overall, also including Edmonds).

[33] St. Louis participated in another franchise's milestone when their 10–2 defeat of Philadelphia on July 15 made the Phillies the first team in MLB history to lose 10,000 games.

The team suffered a devastating setback when Carpenter, who had been on track to return sometime in late July, was diagnosed with ligament damage and had season-ending Tommy John surgery.

[37] In yet another attempt to bolster their faltering rotation, on July 31 St. Louis acquired Joel Piñeiro from the Red Sox for cash and a player to be named later.

[39] The momentum built by the four-game win streak at the end of July was promptly dissipated as the Cardinals lost five in a row to Pittsburgh and Washington.

Manager Tony La Russa, in an effort to increase offensive production, on August 4 began batting Cardinal pitchers eighth in the lineup.

[41] Three days later, Scott Spiezio, the Cardinals' utilityman and third base backup, was placed on the restricted list due to unspecified substance abuse problems.

After hitting 31 home runs in 2007 for the Memphis Redbirds (St. Louis's AAA affiliate), Ankiel was called up to the big leagues to fill Spiezio's roster spot.

Continued strong starting pitching and hot hitting from Pujols, rookie infielder Brendan Ryan, and others propelled the Cardinals to the .500 mark on August 28, the first time since they were 6–6 on April 16 that they did not have a losing record.

The Cardinals entered September facing a stretch run of 31 games in 30 days, due to all three off-days in the month being taken up by makeups of earlier postponements.

Former Cardinal Miguel Cairo, recently signed by St. Louis after he was waived by the Yankees, was brought up to the big club as the first of the September callups.

They entered the game on September 7 against the Arizona Diamondbacks with a chance to take sole possession of first place, but instead the D-backs won and went on to sweep the weekend series.

September 7 was also the day that the New York Daily News reported that Rick Ankiel received a year's worth of human growth hormone in 2004 while he was trying to come back as a pitcher.

[57] Both Molina and Albert Pujols previously (November 1) won the prestigious Fielding Bible Award, which is given to only one person at each position in the major leagues.