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The St. Louis Cardinals left 2025 behind to enter the new Chaim Bloom era for 2026 and beyond. After many key members to the prior core were traded away, the team is starting with a clean slate to develop the next core. With much uncertainty for many positions on the team, one area carried over from 2025 that looked to be promising. The bullpen has been the steady point for the Cardinals for several seasons and projected to be the team's most reliable asset heading into the 2026 season. As we are halfway through the first month of the season, the vibe has shifted with bullpen expectations. The former strength to the Cardinals is now their biggest weakness looking for answers.
The 2025 bullpen was strong all season long and kept the Cardinals competitive despite the lackluster starting rotation and streaky hitting. The team ranked 9th in all of Major League Baseball for bullpen metrics. They posted a 5.1 WAR across 577 IP, collecting 31 wins and 42 saves. They dominated HR/9 with 0.78, which placed them second lowest in all of baseball. They also posted a strong left-on-base percentage of 71.5%, ground ball percentage of 46.6%, BB/9 with 3.40, and home run to fly ball rate of 9.3%. The team bullpen held an ERA, xERA, FIP, and xFIP all under 4.00, which averaged to be one of the best in the entire league. Many games became close battles due to the offense struggling to provide insurance and the team starting down early due to the unstable starting pitching. The bullpen kept the foundation in place and heavily contributed to the team finishing better than they should have.
The 2026 bullpen is off to a polar opposite start. The team currently is ranked 20th in the league with a 0.0 WAR. They are near the bottom of the league in SO/9 with a 7.15 and a 4.93 BB/9. The bullpen is showing a strong BABIP of .288, ground ball percentage of 52%, and HR/9 of 0.74. Ballpark factor definitely plays into this, as Busch Stadium is one of the more friendly pitching environments across the league. But what is concerning is the team runs allowed metrics. So far they have posted a 5.30 ERA, 4.63 xERA, 4.49 FIP, and 4.83 xFIP, which is significantly higher than their 2025 metrics. Chaim Bloom has already shown conviction by addressing this issue early. We have seen the demotion of Chris Roycroft and DFAs of Jared Shuster and Nick Raquet. Cade Winquest has been claimed from the New York Yankees and Ryan Fernandez has been called up. It is refreshing to see activity to act on this when it is needed, and the Cardinals look to be taking the issue seriously. The team needs their key bullpen pieces of JoJo Romero and the struggling Ryne Stanek to carry the back end of games. The Cardinals are off to a great start based on their preseason expectations, but they will need the bullpen to become their rock again if they want to sustain this.
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