Long-time Cardinals killer leaves the NL Central division

The Los Angeles Angels have signed Kyle Hendricks. Cardinals fans, rejoice!

It's not particularly earth-shattering news for Major League Baseball, but for St. Louis Cardinals fans, it's a sigh of relief ending a period of terror. Kyle Hendricks used to be a great pitcher, but he's far diminished today. After the worst season of his career in which he recorded a 5.92 ERA and was relegated to the bullpen for quite some time, it's a wonder he could even land a deal so quickly. But somehow, for Cardinals fans, he was still his usual self: an All-Star and a Cy Young candidate.

Hendricks has almost completed a full season of play against the Cardinals, with 28 appearances against St. Louis across his career. Through this stretch, he has a record of 14-4 with a 2.51 ERA, more than a full point lower than his career numbers overall. Even as he's continued to regress, his dominance against the Cardinals continued. He pitched 11.1 scoreless innings against St. Louis in 2024, and while the rest of the league smoked him, he continued to befuddle the paltry Cardinals offense.

There's no real explanation for Hendricks' dominance against the Cardinals. Pitching like a Cy Young candidate is one thing when Hendricks was at his best, but at his worst, he still seemed to mow through the Cardinals' bats. Perhaps it was that the particularly weak Cardinals lineup in 2024, but even a Hendricks who was demoted to a bullpen role gave the Cubs 4.1 scoreless innings of relief after Jordan Wicks exited with an oblique injury in mid-June.

After receiving a standing ovation from the fans at Wrigley one final time, it was clear Hendricks likely wouldn't return to a Cubs team preparing to contend in the future. But, it's quite possible he hasn't faced the Cardinals for the last time. After all, the Los Angeles Angels come to town for the second series of 2025. Hendricks will almost certainly draw a start if he earns a rotation spot this Spring for an Angels team trying to find its identity, inevitably owning the Cardinals yet again.

But once the Angels leave St. Louis in April, Hendricks may have faced the Cardinals for the last time. Hopefully, he's terrorized the Cardinals for the last time. Farewell Kyle, have fun in Anaheim.