9 Cardinals who have been on fire the first month of the 2024 season, 9 who are cold

On fire: Ryan Helsley, JoJo Romero, and Andrew Kittredge

The St. Louis Cardinals have a "Big 3" on their hands, and it's not a trio in the middle of their order, but instead, it's three dynamic arms at the back-end of their rotation as in Ryan Helsley, Andrew Kittredge, and JoJo Romero.

Last season, one of the reasons the Cardinals struggled over and over again was an inability to close down the few leads they did have. The Cardinals were among the league leaders in blown saves, and usually only had one, maybe two relievers they could trust at any given time.

Things are very different this year.

Any time the Cardinals have had a lead, they have been able to turn the game over to the "Big 3" and lock down the game against any lineup. Each of their ERAs ranges from 0.75-1.69, and their strikeouts per nine are all 9.8 or higher. Opposing teams really don't have much hope of scoring off of them, which is a huge advantage for St. Louis in any game.

The Cardinals built their rotation in such a way that they are hoping to get six innings or more from their starters while having the lead entering the 7th inning and later. That strategy works really well when you have relievers like these who can shut things down.

The Cardinals do need to start winning some games with larger leads so they do not have to turn to the trio every game. So far, they've been pretty perfect, but you cannot overuse them, and having all three unavailable for a game could get them in trouble like it did on Sunday.