The St. Louis Cardinals’ pitching staff has become the butt of jokes to start the 2025 MLB season—and for good reason. With each passing game, it seems like the team is trotting out a batting practice machine rather than a competitive group of arms. While expectations were cautiously optimistic heading into the year, the results on the mound have been nothing short of disastrous.
The rotation, headlined by veterans like Sonny Gray and Miles Mikolas, has failed to deliver any sort of consistency. Gray, the prized offseason addition, hasn’t looked like the Cy Young finalist he was just two years ago, and Mikolas continues to struggle with command and hard contact. Meanwhile, the back end of the rotation has been a revolving door, with no young pitcher truly seizing an opportunity.
It’s not just the starters either—the bullpen has been equally unreliable. Ryan Helsley, JoJo Romero, and the rest of the relief corps have blown multiple late-inning leads and seem unable to stop the bleeding when things start to unravel. There’s been a troubling lack of strikeouts, paired with an alarming walk rate that constantly puts the team in high-leverage, high-stress situations.
Opponents are teeing off on the Cardinals with alarming ease, and the team’s ERA ranks near the bottom of the league. While fans came into 2025 hoping for a bounce-back season after missing the playoffs last year, it’s becoming clear that unless drastic changes are made—either internally or through trades—the pitching will be the team’s downfall yet again.
At this point, it’s not unfair to say that even a pitching machine might offer more control than what the Cardinals are showing on the mound.
