The St. Louis Cardinals kicked off the season with an impressive sweep of the Minnesota Twins, just months after the front office signaled a complete rebuild.
Even without much support from management, the Cardinals jumped out to a 3-0 start, led by a promising group of young players. However, that early momentum quickly faded.
After giving up only six runs in their first three games, the team has surrendered 63 runs in the seven games since—including a rough three-game stretch against the Boston Red Sox in which they allowed 36 runs.
Now 10 games in, St. Louis holds the worst team ERA in all of MLB at 6.18.
The Cardinals’ rotation is made up mostly of veteran pitchers, and most of them have struggled badly.
Sonny Gray, expected to be an ace, hasn’t looked like his usual All-Star self, allowing seven earned runs in 11 innings. He’s been particularly hurt by the long ball, but if his home run rate normalizes, his ERA should improve.
Erick Fedde hasn’t provided much help either, surrendering seven earned runs over nine innings, and currently has more walks than strikeouts.
Miles Mikolas has arguably been the biggest liability. He’s given up 10 earned runs on 13 hits across just eight innings. With his massive contract, moving him off the roster isn’t an easy option—even though he’s pitched poorly enough to warrant it.
All in all, the Cardinals appear to be heading in the wrong direction. To right the ship, they may need to turn to younger arms like Tink Hence and Quinn Mathews and phase out some of their underperforming veterans.
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