Adam Wainwright records second 20-win season

After falling short by one win during the 2013 seasons, Adam Wainwright was finally able to get his second 20-win season when the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs on Monday night.

This could not have come at a better point in his career for Wainwright. It’s doubtful that Wainwright will earn the 2014 National League Cy Young Award but that’s also something that is on the pitcher’s to-do list in his career.

Wainwright recorded his first 20-win season back in 2010, when he finished the year with a 20-11 record. As of now, he is sitting on 20-9 on the season with a career-best 2.38 ERA.

“It’s a notch in the belt for sure,” Wainwright said in an MLB.com article. “Tremendous honor obviously, but more importantly, it’s a big win for our team. Pittsburgh is playing such good baseball right now that we’ve just got to take every game so serious.”

Interestingly enough, both of Wainwright’s 20th wins have come at Wrigley Field. In doing so last night, Wainwright joined Clayton Kershaw and Bartolo Colon as the only active players with two 20-win seasons. Six players have reached the 20-win plateau twice (or more in some instances) as a Cardinal: Bob Gibson, Dizzy Dean, Mort Cooper, Jesse Haines, Howie Pollet, and Joaquin Andujar.

“You look at the rich tradition of this organization, and how many pitchers have come through here and had long careers and not been able to do that,” manager Mike Matheny commented on Wainwright’s achievement in an MLB.com article. “That’s a great company to be in. To us, what makes it probably even more special is that I think every guy in there understands the kind of teammate he is, the kind of example he gives — not just on the field but how he’s always figuring out a way to make everybody else better. You see someone like that have success, you can’t help but really celebrate accomplishments like this.”