It’s been a dreadful start to the season for St. Louis Cardinals pitchers. This season, the Redbird pitching staff has not been up to par in St. Louis. It’s a significant reason the Cardinals are off to a sluggish 9-14 start to the season.
St. Louis has allowed 110 runs this year so far. Right now, only four teams have allowed more runs. So they’re off to a horrible start. Buster Olney of ESPN put that into perspective.
“The Cardinals’ current ERA is 4.48. Whatever the problem is, a St. Louis ERA that high is unusual — they haven’t had staff numbers that inflated over a full season since 2007 (4.65) and 2006 (4.54).
St. Louis has desperately needed starting pitching improvements over the past few seasons. But the team has been mum on trying to improve the rotation. They certainly benefitted from Jack Flaherty in 2019, but the team hasn’t returned to form since then. Starting pitching, or a lack thereof, has been a big reason why.
The MLB world reacted to the news. Many placed the blame for the Cardinals’ pitching woes on one man: free-agent acquisition Willson Contreras.
“Willson Contreras out there making Yadi’s HOF case stronger,” one fan said.
I wonder if a certain catcher in St. Louis who has a difficulty calling games has something to do with this
https://t.co/2bIsyaWMOq — Mike (@Mike__Dhcf) April 25, 2023
And the real kicker? As Owen, a Cub fan pointed out, the Cubs are in the Top 5 in Rotation ERA this year…without Contreras.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022