Final St. Louis Cardinals Opening Day roster prediction

Rotation (6) - Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde, Andre Pallante, Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz, Michael McGreevy

The Cardinals have been contemplating the idea of a six-man rotation, and while it still seems kind of out of character for the Cardinals to do this, I think they'll pull the trigger and begin the year with a six-man group.

Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde, and Miles Mikolas have always been locks for this rotation. Andre Pallante seemed to be one as well, but he has not been sharp in camp and it put into question a bit his place in the rotation. Steven Matz has posted a 2.29 ERA in 19.2 innings in camp, so he likely solidified his spot in the rotation.

But it's hard to see how they leave Michael McGreevy out of this group as well. He posted a sub-2.00 ERA in four appearances (three starts) for St. Louis during the 2024 regular season and has followed that up with a 1.54 ERA in 11.2 innings thus far in camp. He's already proven what he can at Triple-A, and it's time to give McGreevy a run in St. Louis.

Because of that, I think the Cardinals will run with McGreevy in the rotation to begin the year. Eventually, an injury will happen or a starter will clearly look overmatched from the group, but as of now, the Cardinals are going to have a hard time removing any of the six from their big-league rotation.

This would put a bit more stress on their bullpen. I could see the Cardinals riding Mikolas in his starts for as many innings as possible, even if he is getting rocked. If the rest of the rotation can also consistently give them six or more innings, that will help a ton.

If innings become an issue early in the season, then they will likely need to shrink the rotation to five and add another arm to their relief core.

Just missed: Quinn Mathews, Gordon Graceffo