Cardinals Facing Impossible Dilemma with Matthew Liberatore

The Cardinals are in the worst position possible with their opening day starter.

Aug 25, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Matthew Liberatore (32) throws against the Baltimore Orioles during the third inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The St. Louis Cardinals dropped back below the .500 mark on Tuesday night with an embarrassing 13-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. Matthew Liberatore drew the start and gave up eight runs over four innings of work.

The Cardinals are once again trending in the wrong direction and appear to be a lock to miss the postseason. Liberatore was their opening day starter after they traded Sonny Gray to the Boston Red Sox in the offseason.

Now, the Cardinals are facing an impossible situation with the young left-hander, and there is truly not an easy answer to fix this problem.

Cardinals in a bind with Matthew Liberatore

Aug 25, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Matthew Liberatore (32) flips the ball to first base to force out Baltimore Orioles designated hitter Coby Mayo (not pictured) during the third inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Normally, the Cardinals could simply pull Liberatore from the rotation and place him in the bullpen instead. However, that really isn't an option right now. The team is rebuilding anyway, but they also recently had to place both Andre Pallante and Hunter Dobbins on the injured list. Pallante should be back soon, but Dobbins may be done for the year.

The Cardinals do have pitching depth in their system, most notably prospects Liam Doyle and Jurrangelo Cijintje. But rushing them to the big leagues would not be a good idea and could hurt their depth even more.

Unless the Cardinals go out and sign a depth starter, keeping Liberatore in the rotation is their best bet, simply because the pitching they have in the system isn't major league ready and that two of their regular starters are out.

Pallante should be back soon, but even then, the Cardinals are essentially forced to keep Liberatore in the rotation for the rest of the year. He showed some signs of promise in his previous two starts, but ultimately fell flat against the Orioles.

But the truth is that there really isn't anything the Cardinals can do about it. They're out of contention and aren't playing for anything at this point, so they have no choice but to keep running Liberatore out to the mound every fifth day.

At the very least, there is clarity about his situation and what his role should be going forward, but right now, they don't have anything that's better than the current group, so they have to stick with what they have.

This means Liberatore is going to start for the rest of the season and not be moved to the bullpen or sent to the minors. If the Cardinals are going to tweak his role, that will have to wait until 2027 at the earliest.