St. Louis Cardinals: Top five pitching seasons of the decade

The St. Louis Cardinals have been known for their remarkably consistent pitching this decade, always pumping out new hurlers. Who has been the best of the bunch?

The St. Louis Cardinals were one of the most successful franchises this decade, and that success was usually carried on the backs of the pitching staff.

From 2010-2019, Cardinal starting pitchers had a combined 3.64 ERA, a phenomenal mark, leading to six, top-five finishes among the whole MLB in starter ERA.

They don’t always have the biggest names, rarely making big-name free agent signings. But boy, it seems like they grow quality starters on trees. Consistently drafting and developing pitchers has been a key cog in the success of the franchise, but it seems that trend may be coming to an end.

As of the end of 2019, their top pitching prospect was recent 2019 draftee, Zack Thompson, at #5 in their organization, per MLB.com. The last time they didn’t have the top prospect in their organization as a pitcher was 2014. Even then, all of the next five prospects were all pitchers, boasting names like Alex Reyes, Luke Weaver, Jack Flaherty, and Marco Gonzales.

They have some work to do as far as pitching depth, but let’s reminisce about the good times on the mound.

I will not be including relief pitchers. They just don’t provide the same quantity of value that starters do, despite often having more dominant numbers.

Shelby Miller, 2013 – 173.1 IP, 3.06 ERA, 122 ERA+, 1.206 WHIP, 7.9 H/9, 8.8 K/9, 3.4 bWAR

Shelby was one of the top prospects in all of baseball at the time of his debut in 2013, and a dominant rookie season had many believe he was the next ace of the future. After a slight regression in 2014, he was shipped to Atlanta in the Jason Heyward trade.

Following one good season for the Braves, he morphed into one of the worst pitchers in the league, posting a 6.89 ERA from 2016-2019, and is now looking for any chance to get back into baseball over the offseason.

Chris Carpenter, 2010 – 235 IP, 3.22 ERA, 120 ERA+, 1.179 WHIP, 8.2 H/9, 6.9 K/9, 3.0 bWAR

Arguably, Carpenter’s best season was in 2009 (just missing the decade), but he was still plenty dominant in 2010. A dynamic trio (all mentioned later) dominated that season, anchoring the staff to an 86 win season in Pujols’ last elite season.

Carlos Martinez, 2016 – 195.1 IP, 3.04 ERA, 133 ERA+, 1.224 WHIP, 7.8 H/9, 8.0 K/9, 5.3 bWAR

What looked to be the start of Carlos’ top shelf career, may have been a mirage. The 24 year old CMart followed up his breakout season (that was shut down early due to a shoulder injury) with an impressive showing, looking like he was ready to be an ace. He hasn’t been the same since, but many are hopeful he can regain that form this year.

Jaime Garcia, 2010 – 163.1 IP, 2.70 ERA, 143 ERA+, 1.316 WHIP, 8.3 H/9, 7.3 K/9, 2.7 bWAR

Garcia was a consistent piece in the rotation for the early half of the decade, but he may have posted his best season as a rookie in 2010. In his age 23 season, Jaime was part of the trio in 2010 with Wainwright and Carpenter that carried the team. His stuff may not have been better than it was that year, and he just recently retired in January 2019.

Lance Lynn, 2014 – 203.2 IP, 2.74 ERA, 133 ERA+, 1.262 WHIP, 8.2 H/9, 8.0 K/9, 3.6 bWAR

Lynn was a very solid pitcher over the course of his career in St. Louis, posting a career 3.38 ERA with the Cardinals, but his 2014 season stood out as his best. The fastball specialist posted the only sub 3 ERA of his career that year, which lead to his best ERA+ with the Cardinals at 133.

5. Kyle Lohse, 2012 – 211 IP, 2.86 ERA, 133 ERA+, 1.090 WHIP, 1.6 BB/9, 3.76 K/BB, 4.0 bWAR

Lohse only pitched five seasons in St. Louis over his 16 year MLB career, and 2012 was far and away his best statistical season of the bunch. Following up the 2011 World Series victory, he eclipsed the 200 inning mark, while posting the best ERA+ of his career as well. His WHIP showed he was a master at keeping batters off base, which was also exemplified by his minuscule BB/9 rate.

It makes you wonder how a career journeyman with a mostly mediocre career can post such a dominant season at age 33. He accrued 21.6% of his career WAR in that season alone, over a full win more than the next best season of his career.

Of the six teams he played for, his ERA in St. Louis was easily the best of any destination in his career. Maybe the coaching staff understood him better. Maybe he felt more at home. Maybe the competition was weaker. Whatever it was, he posted a fantastic 2012 season before moving on to Milwaukee the following season.

4. Miles Mikolas, 2018 – 200.2 IP, 2.83 ERA, 137 ERA+, 1.071 WHIP, 1.3 BB/9, 5.03 K/BB, 4.1 bWAR

Mikolas entered Spring Training fighting for a spot in the rotation after spending the previous three years in Japan following an unsuccessful tenure in the majors with the Rangers. He finished the 2018 season as the team’s ace.

In what was one of the more interesting storylines of the 2018 season, Mikolas became the Redbirds most trusted arm down the stretch. Despite missing the playoffs, The Lizard King was a revelation throughout the season and looked like a mainstay in the Redbird’s rotation for years to come.

His patented “pitch-to-contact” approach served him well, leading all of baseball in BB/9, en route to an All-Star appearance and a sixth-place Cy Young finish. This earned him a four year, $68 million extension in February 2019.

3. John Lackey, 2015 – 218 IP, 2.77 ERA, 142 ERA+, 1.211 WHIP, 2.2 BB/9, 7.2 K/9, 5.6 bWAR

I’m not a fan of John Lackey, at all. But I can’t deny what a fantastic season he had in his only full year in The Lou. After being acquired at the trade deadline in 2014, he was “meh” for the second half of that year.

In 2015, he anchored the staff of a 100 win team to the postseason, even posting 10 solid innings in the playoffs that year. After a ninth-place finish for Cy Young, he bolted to the Cubs where he posted a decent year, then faded into oblivion after a bad year, retiring after the 2017 season.

I just want to recognize the entire 2015 staff while we’re at it. The starters as a whole posted a 2.99 collective ERA, the next closest being 3.24. 100 wins is a very hard feat to accomplish, and the Birds won those games on the backs of their pitching.

2. Jack Flaherty, 2019 – 196.1 IP, 2.75 ERA, 155 ERA+, 0.968 WHIP, 6.2 H/9, 2.5 BB/9, 10.6 K/9, 6.0 bWAR

If you weren’t worried about Jack after watching him post a 4.90 ERA in his first 17 starts, then you were much more optimistic than most. Following a stellar rookie season, Flaherty couldn’t keep the ball in the yard. He was allowing home runs left and right and didn’t look like the same guy we saw the last year.

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Then, the magic happened. Over his next 16 starts, from July 7th to the end of the year, he posted a monstrous 0.93 ERA in 106.1 IP. Every single time he took the mound, fans just had to pray the offense had enough juice to score just a couple runs because you knew the pitching was going to be lockdown. He ended up leading the NL in WHIP and H/9.

As a younger fan myself, watching Jack work every fifth game was the best display of pitching I’ve seen in my (relatively) short time watching the game. He was masterful day in and day out. It was almost surprising when he actually did give up a run on the mound. He’ll be a Cy Young contender for many years to come.