WATCH: Nolan Arenado gets Busch Stadium ovation in what could be his last Cardinals home game

The Cardinals made a late change to the lineup on Sunday, inserting Nolan Arenado at third base just to remove him before the first pitch was thrown. The move was done to draw an ovation from the home fans in this final home Cardinals game of the 2025 season. 

While Arenado's future is up in the air, Sunday's game could very well serve as his final home game as a member of the Cardinals. 

Arenado is 34 years old and the Cardinals organization is in a transition phase this offseason, focused on getting younger and better. Arenado has two years and $32 million left on his deal (with the Rockies still taking care of $5 million of that) and has hit .236/.292/.365 (85 OPS+) with 10 homers, 49 RBI and 1.0 WAR so far this season. The Cardinals tried all last offseason to trade him and, in fact, agreed to a deal with the Astros only to have Arenado exercise his contractual right to veto the deal.

"I definitely come to the ballpark with it in mind -- this could be the last time playing at home, and thinking about it," Arenado told reporters (via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch) Friday. "At the same time, I have a job to do. I would like to go out there and compete, have good at-bats, play some good defense, and at least give them something good to remember."

The Cardinals front office will move from John Mozeliak, who is retiring as president of baseball operations, to Chaim Bloom. Bloom could attempt to trade Arenado like Mozeliak did last offseason, but it's also possible the Cardinals just release Arenado and eat the rest of the money. Given what they're trying to do moving forward, it's a sunk cost at this point. 

Arenado was traded from the Rockies to the Cardinals in the spring of 2021. In his five seasons with the Cardinals, he's hit .266/.322/.455 (115 OPS+) with 116 home runs, 421 RBI, 17.8 WAR, three All-Star appearances, two Gold Gloves, a Silver Slugger and a third-place MVP finish. During his tenure, the Cardinals made the playoffs in 2021 (lost the wild card game) and 2022 (swept in the Wild Card Series).

The Cardinals are still technically alive in their playoff chase this season, but it would take a series of absurdly unlikely circumstances. The most likely scenario here is the Cardinals miss the playoffs and Arenado is then done with the ballclub, hence the move for the ovation on Sunday.