3 St. Louis Cardinals to blame for slow start to season

1. Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas deserves some blame for St. Louis’ slow start

The St. Louis Cardinals may be reconsidering serving up all that cash to Miles Mikolas prior to the start of the 2023 season. The Cards front office didn’t sign up for their frontline starter to post a 9.64 ERA despite giving up just one walk.

The St. Louis rotation as a whole has been, well, not good. Jack Flaherty has sub-2.00 ERA but has walked 13 batters in two starts, Steven Matz has an ERA north of 8.00, Adam Wainwright is on the Injured List, and Mikolas has looked horrific.

It’s not that Mikolas isn’t getting his punchouts — he is. The right-hander has 12 strikeouts in 9.1 innings of work. But Mikolas is getting lit up like a Christmas tree. He’s surrendered 19 base hits in his first two starts and allowed 10 runs to dent the plate while only giving up one home run.

It’s not the long ball that has been Mikolas’ undoing. But batters are just putting the ball where the defense isn’t able to get it, which is quite the feat taking into consideration how good the Cards defense is.

If Miles Mikolas doesn’t get the kinks worked, the St. Louis Cardinals have no shot. Their rotation is shaky at best, but if Mikolas can’t right the ship, it’s going to be a long season for the relief corp.