Cardinals fans need to wrap their head around this league-wide trend

Whether it's on social media, in the comments of our Dealin' the Cards podcast, or just in conversation with different fans of the St. Louis Cardinals, one topic continues to have a major disconnect among many fans and the reality of today's game: innings. Specifically, whether or not starting pitchers can go 200 or more innings in a single season anymore.

With the Cardinals ramping down Leahy's innings as of late, I've seen many fans wonder how he'll ever push toward 200 innings in a season if he's not being allowed to stretch more this year. Well, in all likelihood, he never will, and in today's game, you can count on one hand how many pitchers achieve that feat.

Brandon Kiley brought up this topic on 101 ESPN this week, and I found it very timely. Back in 2011, 39 different pitchers eclipsed over 200 innings pitched that season. In 2026, only Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara and Phillies left-hander Christopher Sanchez are on pace to do so. Even the 175 innings pitched mark is more of a rarity today, with only 25-30 starters realistically having a chance of eclipsing that number this year. And that's not just a this-year trend either.

In 2025, only three starters threw 200+ innings, and 26 starters eclipsed 175 innings. In 2024, only four starters reached 200 innings, and 32 pitchers hit 175 innings, and so on and so forth as you go through recent years in baseball history.

Sure, there are still a few arms who are able to do that each season, but it's by far the exception now, not the norm. So why are we penalizing the Cardinals for not lining up with that trend?

Gone are the days of Cardinals pitchers being measured by whether they can go 200 innings

Love it or hate it, this is what baseball is today. I don't blame anyone for critiquing the trend that the game has moved toward or wishing that things were different, but to act like the Cardinals are out of touch would be quite disingenuous.

In fact, in the example of Leahy, the industry sentiment is that you should not increase a pitcher's workload by over 20% year over year, or else you risk a significant jump in the potential for an arm injury. The Cardinals have already increased Leahy's workload from 88 innings last season to 129.1 innings prior to Sunday's outing, which is a 32% increase, and they still plan on him throwing three-inning stints down the stretch. So they've already pushed the envelope quite a bit compared to what others would advise.

Or look at one of their top pitching prospects, Tanner Franklin, who throws extremely high velocity and has sick stuff on the mound, and in his first full professional season is transitioning from a bullpen role back in college to starting games for the Cardinals organization. They've already increased his workload year over year from 38.2 innings with the University of Tennessee to 99 innings with their Minor League affiliates, a 61% increase year over year.

Sure, there are players like Cooper Hjerpe who I feel like they've been overly cautious with, or the fact that many of their starting pitching prospects don't get pushed beyond 85 pitches, but overall, the Cardinals really aren't all that much different from the trends we see around the league now. And I'm not sure if enough Cardinals fans recognize that.

This is baseball now. It's been like this for years, and barring major shifts around the industry, it's where it will remain. So don't penalize the Cardinals for that.

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