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The 2015 MLB season is following a familiar script, as the St. Louis Cardinals are 8-3 and sit atop the National League Central division. As usual, the team is humming right along thanks to reliable pitching. Actually, this unit has been more than just reliable this year.
St. Louis has the lowest team ERA in all of baseball at 1.91, and no other team is even close. The Detroit Tigers are in second at 2.48. With the depth the Cardinals have in the rotation, they’re likely to stay near the top of the league in team ERA during the entirety of the season.
It starts with ace Adam Wainwright, who might just be baseball’s most underrated starting pitcher. If he weren’t pitching in the same league as Clayton Kershaw during his prime, he would likely have a couple of Cy Young awards to his credit. He sets the tone at the top.
Then comes Lance Lynn, a talented pitcher who seems on the cusp of his breakout season. He is 49-28 since his first full season in 2012 and his ERA has been below 4.00 every year. This year, he’s 1-1 with a 1.64 ERA.
Perhaps the biggest bargain in baseball is the Cardinals’ No. 3 starter John Lackey. He had a clause that kicked into his contract with the Boston Red Sox based on injuries that force him to make the veteran minimum of $500,000 this season. You better believe St. Louis general manager John Mozeliak knew about that clause when he traded for Lackey last summer.
Michael Wacha is where the team really starts to show its depth. He’s been nearly Cy Young worthy when he’s been on the field, but he’s had trouble with injuries early in his career. So far this season, he’s 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA. Oh, and he’s barely 23 years old.
Finally, there’s Carlos Martinez in the fifth starter spot. He’s been compared to a pitcher with the same last name: Pedro Martinez. That’s not a typo. Martinez, the Cardinals’ fifth starter, has drawn comparisons to a pitcher who put together the single-greatest pitching season in baseball history.
In the last nine months, the team has traded away promising young pitchers Shelby Miller and Joe Kelly because they literally have too much pitching. Sure, they could pitch some young starters out of the bullpen, but that doesn’t get the most value out of them. In some situations, trading them does. After all, Miller helped them get a player named Jason Heyward.
Now, the team has another starter, Marco Gonzales, trying to reach the major leagues as a starter. Gonzales was one of the most polished pitchers coming out of the 2013 MLB Draft after pitching at Gonzaga University. There are people within baseball who say he has the best changeup in the game, but there isn’t even room for him in the rotation right now.
By developing young pitchers they acquire through the draft and trades, the Cardinals have been able to sustain success. Of course, the team’s success has been traced to its clutch hitting as well, but the pitching has been even more important.
After all, if you can’t score, you can’t win. That’s why not many teams do against the Cardinals — especially in October.
