Comparing the St. Louis Cardinals rotation to other NL playoff teams
By Josh Jacobs
San Diego Padres
Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Mike Clevinger
The Padres have a much deeper rotation than the Phillies, but the Cardinals have really closed the gap since the trade deadline.
Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish are a formidable duo at the top of their rotation. Musgrove is a borderline Cy Young candidate with a 3.16 ERA with 152 SO this season. He recently received a 5-year, $100 million deal from the Padres for his career season. Darvish has been one of the better pitchers in baseball for a long time now, and his 3.31 ERA should be no surprise to fans around the league.
Similar to the matchup with the Phillies, the Cardinals should matchup well with Musgrove and Darvish head to head. The real difference is how they matchup with the rest of their rotation.
Blake Snell is a former AL Cy Young winner and has a career 2.83 ERA in the postseason. Historically, Snell has not gone deep into games, which if that remains the case, could work St. Louis’ favor as the Padres bullpen is shaky. Clevinger has a 3.96 ERA on the season, but has the ability to pitch much better than his ERA currently shows. Flaherty and Mikolas should have the edge still, but it’s much closer than the Phillies.