"Enormous amount of pride of having someone coming up through your organization and rise to this level is special," said John Mozeliak, Cardinals president of baseball operations. "Why now? It made sense to do it now. Everything is going well, and more importantly momentum is building behind our players. Having Mike Shildt as manager is a tremendous story. I hope the next chapter is even better."
Shildt, 50, has led the Cardinals back into the postseason race since taking over as manager with one game remaining before the All-Star break. In the 38 games since, the Cardinals have gone 26-12 and leapfrogged seven other teams to move to the top of the National League wild-card standings.