All-time great pitcher thwarts Cardinals' early-season progress

The conclusion of the St. Louis Cardinals’ doubleheader saw them getting swept by the Red Sox, losing twice on Sunday and all three games of the series. While the Redbirds offense has impressed many to begin the year, in this three-game set versus the Red Sox, it was certainly the pitching that disappointed. In three games versus Boston, the Cardinals gave up 36 runs, including 18 in last night's blowout. Although last night’s game was uncompetitive, the Cardinals did find themselves in close matchups during games one and two.

In these two games, a familiar foe returned to face the Cardinals, continuing his impeccable career against them. After the Cardinals scored three runs in the top of the ninth inning on Friday versus Cooper Criswell, the Red Sox brought Aroldis Chapman into the game, who walked one batter and then induced a game-ending double play off the bat of Ivan Herrera. This foiled the Redbirds' comeback and earned Chapman his 337th career save, and he now is only five saves away from the 15th most in MLB history. In game two of the series, after Ryan Helsley blew a save in the ninth inning, Chapman came on to preserve a scoreless game in the tenth before the Red Sox walked it off in the bottom half of the inning. Another scoreless outing from Chapman against the Cardinals earned him the win and improved on an already amazing career versus the Redbirds.

Having come up in the majors with the Cincinnati Reds in 2010, Chapman spent six seasons in the NL Central before signing with the New York Yankees. After being traded in 2016, he found himself back in the NL Central pitching half a season for the rival Chicago Cubs. Beyond 2016, Chapman spent seven straight seasons in the American League before returning to the NL Central as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2024. Now in 2025, Chapman has found success against the Cardinals once more. In 47 career appearances against the team, Chapman has a 5-0 record, including 63 strikeouts, a 1.59 earned run average, and 20 saves. Luckily for the Cardinals, they won’t have to see any more of Chapman this season unless he joins another ball club. 

With that being said, the damage has already been done. Although it’s still very early in the season, three straight losses have made the Cardinals 1-5 in their last six games after starting the year undefeated. These losses should be particularly concerning for multiple reasons, one being that the Red Sox are by far the most talented team that the Cardinals have faced thus far. Hopefully, this performance doesn’t foreshadow the Cardinals' contributions against other playoff-caliber squads.

Lastly, and maybe even more concerning, is the performance of the Cardinals pitching staff. Miles Mikolas, Gordon Graceffo, and Erick Fedde combined to surrender 21 of the Cardinals' 36 allowed runs. Outputs like this, surrendering eight, seven, and six runs, respectively, just won’t cut it. As far as the bullpen is concerned, on paper, they are much stronger than the starting rotation. The duo of Ryan Helsley and Ryan Fernandez is likely to bounce back despite each pitching a poor series. In the meantime, Matthew Liberatore will get the ball today against the Pirates for his second start of the year before Oli Marmol hands the ball to ace Sonny Gray on Tuesday. With tough home series against the Phillies and Astros upcoming, the Cardinals will hope to steal a series win on the road against the Pirates before returning home this Friday.