Cardinals: It’s official, Adam Wainwright made a mistake coming back for 2023 season

Adam Wainwright’s miserable performance against the Cubs in the MLB London Series solidified the mistake he made in coming back to the Cardinals.

Adam Wainwright could have spent this week relaxing in the quiet of retirement. Instead, he spent it traveling overseas for a series against the Cubs only to get shelled at London Stadium for his troubles.

Saturday’s outing was nothing short of awful for the 41-year-old pitcher. He made it just three innings, giving up 11 hits and seven earned runs without striking out a single batter.

As James Smyth of the YES Network pointed out on Twitter, he is the first Cardinals pitcher to allow more than 11 hits in three or fewer innings without a strikeout since Andy Benes in 1996.

His season-long ERA is now 6.56, which would be the worst of his career as a full-time starter.

There’s time to improve that number, but the whole season now feels like a waste for the Cardinals and the veteran pitcher.

MLB London Series proves Adam Wainwright should have retired

St. Louis hasn’t been great in any aspect of the game. And Wainwright hasn’t helped himself or the team. He’s now given up three or more earned runs in all but one of his nine starts.

The only reason Wainright has managed a 4-5 record to this point is because he’s gotten run support some of the time. Three of his wins included the Cardinals scoring eight or more runs.

It looks like Yadier Molina had the right idea. What was the point of coming back just to flounder at the bottom of a weak NL Central?

Wainwright tried to hold off the clock but its clearly caught up to him. It’s no surprise for a 41-year-old have his game decline. It’s just a shame he didn’t hang up his cleats before it got to this point. Now Oli Marmol and company need to have a serious conversation about Wainwright’s place in the rotation. The current status quo isn’t cutting it.