Inside The Cardinals

Cardinals Red-Hot Starter Is Completely Changing Narrative

The Cardinals made have found something...
Patrick McAvoy|
Feb 26, 2021; Jupiter, Florida, USA; A general view of the St. Louis Cardinals logo on the stadium at Roger Dean Stadium during spring training workouts. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images
Feb 26, 2021; Jupiter, Florida, USA; A general view of the St. Louis Cardinals logo on the stadium at Roger Dean Stadium during spring training workouts. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images | Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images

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St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals have one of the more polarizing starting pitchers in the National League right now. 

Miles Mikolas entered the 2025 season already with negative buzz around him. There were trade rumors throughout the offseason and social media specifically tossed his name around a lot. He had a solid start to the 2025 season in his first appearance, but his second was a disaster against the Boston Red Sox. Since then, there’s been pretty much nothing but speculation about trading him or taking him out of his rotation spot. 

While this is the case, he’s done nothing but produce ever since. He had yet another great outing on Wednesday afternoon against the red-hot Cincinnati Reds. He pitched 5 1/3 innings of shutout baseball while allowing just three base hits.

Overall, this season he has made six starts and has a 4.66 ERA and 17-to-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 29 innings pitched. If the season were to end today, that would be his best ERA since 2022 when he was last an All-Star. Outside of his start against the Red Sox, he's had a 2.39 ERA in his other five starts.

It’s not too shocking that he had a lot of negative buzz heading into the season. The last two years haven’t gone his way. But, fans should cut him some slack at least in the short term. The one bad start against the Red Sox certainly stands out, but he has been everything the team could’ve asked for in each of his other starts this year.

More MLB: MLB Writer Proposes 'Quite Unlikely' Cardinals-Cubs Trade

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Patrick McAvoy
PATRICK MCAVOY

Patrick McAvoy's experiences include local and national sports coverage at the New England Sports Network with a focus on baseball and basketball. Outside of journalism, Patrick also is pursuing an MBA at Brandeis University. After quickly rising as one of the most productive writers on the site, he expanded his reach to write for Baseball Essential, a national baseball site in Sports Illustrated Media Group. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Inside The Cardinals, please reach out to Scott Neville: nevilles@merrimack.edu

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