After contentious discussions, the MLB lockout is over and teams have begun their spring training schedules. Opening Day has been pushed to April 14, which gives teams some extra time to finalize their rosters and rotations. In this series, TGH will be summarizing each team’s 2021 season and predicting their Opening Day pitching rotation. Here is the St. Louis Cardinals pitching rotation for 2022.
Summary
The Cardinals finished second in the NL Central in 2021, with a record of 90-72. Their record was good enough to earn a Wild Card berth. They finished second to the Brewers in the division, who had a record of 95-67.
St. Louis went on a franchise record 17-game winning streak last season. They also became the first team to have five Gold Glove winners. They would go on to lose to the 106-win Los Angeles Dodgers in the one-game playoff. Here is a look at the pitching rotation the Cardinals will roll out in 2022 to try and return to the postseason.
1. Adam Wainwright
Despite being 39-years-old, Adam Wainwright put up another great season in 2021. He won 17 games over 32 starts. He also pitched an MLB-high three complete games, and earned an ERA of just 3.05 over 206.1 innings pitched. These numbers earned him seventh place in Cy Young award voting.
2. Miles Mikolas
Mikolas has not pitched a full season’s worth of work since 2019. He sat out during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and threw only 44.2 innings in 2021. Those innings included nine starts, in which he went 2-3 in the win-loss column. His ERA was 4.23.
3. Steven Matz
2022 will be Matz’s first season as a Cardinal. He was a Toronto Blue Jay in 2021, and before that had spent his entire career with the New York Mets. Over 150 innings pitched with Toronto last year, he had an ERA of 3.82. He also went 14-7 in 29 games started.
4. Dakota Hudson
Hudson has only had one year of starter’s innings, back in 2019. He pitched just 8.2 innings over two appearances (one start). He did earn a win in one of his appearances, however. ERA over such a small span doesn’t really matter, but it sat at 2.08.
Featured image courtesy of Jerry Lai/USA Today Sports
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