Who should stay and who should be removed from the Cardinals' rotation after deadline

Miles Mikolas

Miles Mikolas has had a strange season. The team is 9-10 when he pitches, but in five of those losses, Mikolas has recorded a quality start. He gets basically zero run support at times. His best outing of the year came in Pittsburgh when he carried a no-hitter into the seventh. He surrendered a hit, got out of the inning, and watched the bullpen lose the game. The Miles Mikolas experience is just like that sometimes. This year, it's been a mixed bag. The highs have been high, but the lows have been really, really low. To be fair, it's been that way throughout his entire Cardinals career.

2024 is perhaps best described as a tale of two different Miles Mikolas-es. You see, over his first eight appearances, Mikolas was nearly unplayable. Many expressed concerns about his future. Fans lampooned the extension he and the club agreed to last spring and wondered how they could possibly escape his terrible performance. Mikolas surrendered an astonishing 30 runs in his first 42 innings of work, good for a 6.43 ERA. He allowed eight homers. His shenanigans were a big part of the Cardinals' early scuffles, as the team went just 2-6 in his starts.

Then, he pitched quite well on Mother's Day (May 12). Mikolas gave the team six strong innings of two-run ball, and they beat Milwaukee for the first time in seven contests. They also ended a seven-game skid and avoided a four-game sweep at the hands of their division rivals. Perhaps Mikolas acted as a sort of catalyst for the team. Since that game, the Cardinals own the NL's best record at 33-20. They thrust themselves into the Wild Card race and are now players in the divisional battle.

Mikolas has been effective over this stretch. In 11 starts, he's averaging six innings per start with a 3.88 ERA. He has recorded 8 quality starts. Aside from a blowup start against Cincinnati, he's been nearly flawless. The team is 7-4 in his starts, but he's given them a legitimate chance to win at least 10 of them. Mikolas has only taken two losses himself over this timeframe. If you remove that blowup start, Mikolas sports a 2.82 ERA since May 12.

So, Miles Mikolas isn't going anywhere. He's been one of the game's most reliable pitchers over the past two months, and it's hard to imagine a scenario where the Cardinals disrupt that. He's done everything they have asked. He has locked down a spot in this rotation.

Verdict: Miles ain't going anywhere