Walker leads the majors in home runs, slugging percentage, and is tied for first in WAR, with 7 homers in his last 9 games.

But the Cardinals are 8-8 and Monday night's crowd was under 18,000. Bernie draws a fascinating parallel to Mark McGwire's 1998-99 seasons: McGwire attracted massive crowds everywhere but the Cardinals still posted a .489 winning percentage and missed the playoffs both years.

The core argument is that Walker is doing everything right, but he cannot fix the years of organizational complacency and fan disengagement on his own. Fans are in a reasonable "wait and see" mode, wanting validation that this is real. Walker can be part of the solution, but not an instant miracle.

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