What’s your most pressing questions at the most interesting point of the season?
It’s that time again! Time for you, the reader, to ask us what’s weighing most on your mind when it comes to the St. Louis Cardinals?
After taking game one last night against the Chicago Cubs in explosive fashion! It was “deuces wild” last night, as the Cardinals belted 4 two run home runs from lefties Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan, Alec Burleson, and Nolan Gorman. Donovan was robbed by PCA for his 2nd home run of the game as well, but the display of power was both a welcome sight and MUCH needed from an offense who was experiencing a bit of a power outage outside of Burleson. Matthew Liberatore was spectacular and set a very meaningful tone for this series pitching 7 innings of 2 run ball. After a bit of a lag in late May, in his last 2 starts, he’s 2-0 with a 2.77 ERA, and a 1.92 FIP in 13 IP. Thats more like the Liberatore we’ve been used to seeing for a majority of this season!
Tonight, Michael McGreevy will make his 3rd start of the season. So far in 2025, McGreevy, is 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA, 2.59 FIP, .194 BAA, 0.84 WHIP, and a 23.1 K% to just a 3.1 BB%. The Cardinals will look to earn at minimum a split tonight for the series which will at minimum keep them in the Central for another week.
Some readers have pointed out how hyperbolic it is to put so much pressure on one series but consider the range of outcomes here, IF the Cubs had come in and swept the Cardinals, they would be 8.5 out of the division and be trending towards likely sellers. The Inverse of that is, best case scenario, this week where THEY sweep the Cubs and will only be a .5 game out of first place and put themselves in the likely buyer category. There are still 3 games to play this series and another series against Chicago 4th of July weekend to come before the deadline that will likely determine the course of investment for this roster for this season, and they got off to a terrific start last night!
Finally, how about some love for Phil Maton and Steven Matz! For Maton, he’s been one of the best relief pitcher signings Mo has made since Pat Neshek? In 29.1 IP he has a 1.84 ERA, 2.05 FIP, his 32.5 K% is his best rate since 2020. His .202 BAA and 1.09 WHIP are helping his strand runners at a 78.4 % rate. For Matz, he’s been an invaluable Swiss army knife option of the pen, also making spot starts, for a team that has needed veteran stability to surround the carousel of young arms that has come through the bullpen. In 2025, Matz, has a 3.19 ERA, 2.34 FIP, a 22.4 K% and a 1.11 WHIP. These two have gone a long way in stabilizing a rather unknown bullpen picture after watching Andrew Kittredge depart via free agency and Ryan Fernandez not being able to repeat his performance from last season that made the Cardinals bullpen so impactful!
Let me know in the comments what you’re monitoring on the team and don’t forget to submit your questions for this weeks episode of the Viva El Birdos Podcast. If you havent already go check out our episode we just did with Cardinals Assistant GM and head of Player Development and Performance, Rob Cerfolio!
-Thanks for reading