Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright make more MLB history

St. Louis Cardinals legends Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright just keep racking up the starts together as they chase MLB history.

For the 284th time, Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina started as a battery.

They now own the fourth spot for all-time starts together in MLB history, passing Don Drysdale and John Roseboro of the Dodgers.

The next pair for Wainwright and Molina to target? Red Faber and Ray Schalk, who tallied their 306 starts from 1914 to 1926 with the White Sox.

If the 39-year-old Wainwright and 38-year-old Molina can stay healthy, they could conceivably catch Faber and Schalk by the end of the 2021 season.

Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina are Cardinals’ stalwarts

The Cardinals’ pair is not much further off second place at 316, a mark held by Warren Spahn and Del Crandall with the then-Boston and Milwaukee Braves. The all-time record belongs to Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan of the Tigers, a partnership that ended in 1975.

Challenging for those two places is very much up in the air as Wainwright and Molina are both on one-year contracts with St. Louis.

Wainwright and Molina are defying the odds of the era they play in. Only two other batteries from this century have reached more than 200 games together. Cole Hamels and Carlos Ruiz of the Phillies managed a run of 207 from 2006 through 2015. Tom Glavine and Javy Lopez had 248 starts together from 1994 to 2002 with the Braves.

Start No. 284 came on Thursday against the Reds in St. Louis. The Cardinals are coming out of a 1-2 series with the Dodgers and looking to gain some ground on the Cubs in first place in the NL Central.

This year, Wainwright has an ERA of 4.22 with a 3-4 record. Molina is batting .284/.313/.511 with seven home runs and 26 RBI.