ST. LOUIS -- Over the first 39 games of the season, the Cardinals muddled along at 15-24 and limped into Mother’s Day not only a season-worst nine games below .500, but in the throes of a seven-game losing skid.

At that time, they were playing the equivalent of a dismal 62-100 record.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the Cardinals won that Mother’s Day game in Milwaukee -- after manager Oliver Marmol and hitting coach Daniel Descalso got ejected -- and they came alive and looked like a team that could do no wrong. Over the next two-plus months, the Cards went 35-23 for MLB’s third-best record over that timeframe.

Even after Sunday’s 8-3 loss to the rival Cubs in the final game before the break for the MLB All-Star Game, the Cards have been playing the equivalent of a 100-62 season over the past two months.

So which team can the Cardinals be over the second half of the season -- the 62-100 club from early on or the 100-62 group? Marmol, who has touted his team’s “conviction” for weeks, certainly believes it’s the latter.

When asked on Sunday what his team’s prolonged stretch of excellence proves, Marmol said: “That we’re as good as anybody in the league. We started off poorly, and there’s no secret that we dug ourselves a hole. But for the past two months we’ve played the style of baseball we expect moving forward.

“It’s not, ‘We’re hot right now.’ This is our game, our style of play and what we’re capable of doing against anybody on any given day. It’s been consistent for a decent amount of time now.”

Just hours after sweeping a doubleheader from the rival Cubs on Saturday night, some of the Cards’ warts showed on Sunday when Chicago hit six home runs to cruise to an easy victory to split the four-game series. Four of the long balls came off starter Miles Mikolas, who came into the game with a 3.88 ERA over his past 11 starts after slumping to a 6.43 ERA in his first eight starts.

Despite the poor finish to the first half, Marmol feels the pitching staff has stabilized the Cardinals just the way the club hoped when it went out and signed Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson in free agency.

“They’ve done exactly what we wanted them to do, and [Andre] Pallante has done his part filling in that fifth spot,” Marmol said. “When you look at [Gibson], Sonny and Lance, they’ve done their part on the field and in the clubhouse and I’m extremely happy with what we’ve got.”

Andrew Kittredge, who entered Sunday tied for second in all of baseball with 25 holds, also surrendered two eighth-inning home runs and nearly gave up a third before Brendan Donovan made a leaping catch at the wall. JoJo Romero (MLB-most 26 holds), All-Star closer Ryan Helsley (MLB-most 32 saves) and Kittredge have been the key pieces of a bullpen that has been the Cardinals' most consistent and dominant unit.

That bullpen unit has been one of the biggest reasons why the Cardinals have gone 18-12 in one-run games. Also, they are 39-2 when leading after seven innings and 44-0 when up after eight largely because of the shutdown work of Helsley and others in the bullpen.

“Winning close games is really important and you do need some adversity in season because you’re going to hit some of that in the postseason and that’s our goal -- to make it to the postseason and still win the division,” said Donovan, who notched his seventh three-hit game of the season on Sunday. “[Winning close games] is a testament to our bullpen, and our hitters are starting to heat up. I really like our club.”

So, too, does Alec Burleson, who has blossomed into one of the Cardinals' biggest offensive threats. Much like the Cardinals, Burleson started slowly as he jockeyed for consistent playing time in the outfield. However, he hit seven home runs in June and has added five more in July. Already the team leader in batting average (.288), RBIs (53), slugging (.494) and OPS (.814), Burleson hit his 17th homer on Sunday to tie Nolan Gorman for the team lead.

Burleson, Donovan and electrifying rookie shortstop Masyn Winn have filled many of the gaps left by the struggles of Cardinals cornerstones Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt, giving the team belief that it can be even more successful once its veteran stars find their groove.

“We knew what we had here, and once we put it all together, we knew what we could do,” Burleson said. “We’ve shown that the past few months now and we hope to continue it. We fight and that’s a testament to everyone in this clubhouse.”