DETROIT -- If it was odd to see Miles Mikolas smiling following Wednesday’s 4-1 loss to the Tigers at Comerica Park, one need only consider the context. Yes, it’s been an exhausting start to the season. Yes, the Cardinals are not winning enough to satisfy anyone. And yes, the struggles seem so much more drawn-out given last year’s experience.

But!

“I think the vibe is strong,” said Mikolas, who took the loss in the series finale after six innings of three-run ball. We're [5 1/2 games] back [in the NL Central] and we've got half our lineup that are perennial All-Stars that are underperforming a little bit and we're hanging [5 1/2] games out? I like our chances there once we get hot. ... I don't think anyone's too worried.”

While it might be tempting to throw in the towel on postseason hopes, let’s remember we’re just 31 games into a 162-game haul and there’s a whole lot of baseball left. With that, here are five reasons May will be better for the Cardinals:

1) The defense is holding strong
Bear Bryant taught us that defense wins championships, and his words don’t lose any punch when we translate them to baseball. A lack of offense means runs on both sides are crucial, and the guys on the field have kept St. Louis within sniffing distance with some of the best glovework around: The Cards have the third-fewest errors per game in MLB (.33), behind just the Braves (.29) and Nats (.31).

2) The veterans will click
Anyone who thinks Paul Goldschmidt is going to hover around the Mendoza line for the rest of the season is ridiculous. Goldschmidt, a career .292 hitter and five-time NL Silver Slugger Award winner, has five seasons of .300-plus baseball in his career and four more of at least .290. He’s given no indication of slowing in his age-36 season, and after a 5-for-12 series in Detroit, he’s slashing .370/.433/.481 across his past seven games.

Same goes for Nolan Arenado, a fellow five-time Silver Slugger and .286 career hitter who hit .192 in his past seven games but still managed to carry a .296 average in April.

3) The schedule will improve
St. Louis has played 19 road games, tying the Yankees for second most in MLB behind the Pirates (20). Add in the six-ish weeks the Cards spent in South Florida this spring prior to Opening Day, and it’s been a brutal stretch for even the most veteran players and staff.

The good news? St. Louis is now home for 15 of 26 games the rest of May and has four off-days.

4) The bullpen is stingy
Ryan Helsley recorded his 10th save in his 16th appearance on Tuesday. He’s tied for second in MLB in appearances and tied for first in saves. He’s allowed more than one run in just two outings this season and carried a 0.60 ERA in April.

And all that happened with the added stress of injuries to the starters, which has forced the relief corps to log more innings than normal. Impressive as Helsley’s numbers are, he’s not alone: Teammates Ryan Fernandez (2.92 ERA), Matthew Liberatore (2.76), JoJo Romero (1.72) and Andrew Kittredge (0.75) give St. Louis plenty of reasons for optimism in the late innings.

“Look at what Kittredge has done that allows the bullpen to work the way it has worked,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “But then in games that you're not in the lead, what Fernandez has done, what Libby has done, and that's been impressive, too, right? Down one, Libby throwing up a zero [on Tuesday] allows [the Game 1 comeback] to happen. ... We've been doing that often.”

5) The attitudes are right
No one’s hanging their head in the clubhouse right now; this club believes it can win every game. That’s exactly what you want from a team that’s suffered just fewer than half their losses by two or fewer runs. As the old saying goes, the Cards are often a bloop and a blast away from a different ending, and they know it.

“I really like our club. They're a tough team. They're not going to give in at all,” Marmol said. “You look at what we've done over 30 days with our offense being where it's been, I don't think that's going to be a lasting theme. I feel really good about that being turned around and still continuing to play good defense and pitching well.”

“Luck will favor the prepared, so if we keep at it and keep doing the things we're supposed to be doing -- playing good, solid, fundamental baseball -- eventually, we'll start catching those breaks,” Mikolas said. “We're going to start winning a lot of ball games.”