Inside The Cardinals

Cardinals Have One Of Baseball’s Biggest Surprises Of 2025

The Cardinals have a big surprise on their hands...
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 most surprising stories of the 2025 Major League Baseball season so far.

St. Louis has been surprising overall and currently has a 26-20 record. The Cardinals are in second place in the National League Central and are just one game behind the Chicago Cubs. This isn't about the overall team, though. Miles Mikolas is having a serious bounce-back campaign and deserves some love right now, especially after all of the negative buzz early on.

Mikolas entered the 2025 season with a lot of negative buzz. There were plenty who said St. Louis should've moved on from him and opened a spot for a younger guy. He's done pretty much nothing but give St. Louis chances to win since. He allowed eight runs in his second start of the year on April 6th against the Boston Red Sox but hasn't allowed more than three runs in a game outside of that.

He's made nine starts so far this season and has a 3.77 ERA and 27-to-15 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 45 1/3 innings pithed. Those numbers include the rough outing against Boston. If you take out the Red Sox start, he has allowed just 11 earned runs across 42 2/3 innings pitched in his other eight starts. That's a 2.32 ERA. A season like this certainly wasn't expected out of Mikolas, but he has given the Cardinals a chance to win each outing

Mikolas had a 5.35 ERA last year in 32 starts and a 4.78 ERA in 2023 in 35 starts. Mikolas has completely turned things around and seems like an early candidate for the Comeback Player of the Year Award.

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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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