Miles Mikolas throws jab at Cardinals legend Adam Wainright to defend his poor play

Speaking tongue-in-cheek, this player chose the wrong answer and quickly regretted his decision
St. Louis Cardinals v Los Angeles Dodgers
St. Louis Cardinals v Los Angeles Dodgers | Katelyn Mulcahy/GettyImages

The 2025 season for the St. Louis Cardinals is appearing to be another lost competitive season, which is growing old with the fanbase. It appeared light was at the end of the tunnel under the Chaim Bloom era for 2026 and beyond, but the same cloud hovers over the franchise for the time being. The franchise is stuck in a neutral position and cannot quite figure out how to move forward or even backward anymore. If you need an Exhibit A for this, look no further than starting pitcher Miles Mikolas continuing to be in the rotation.

Instead of cutting ties with Mikolas and ending this disaster of a contract, the organization wants to recoup as much lost value as possible before Mikolas departs for free agency after this season. This lack of accountability from the DeWitts and John Mozeliak has put the Cardinals in a decline trend and essentially has cost this team a chance at any legit wild card contention in 2025. This veteran leader of the staff has arguably been one of the worst starters this season, with a 5.17 ERA in 125.1 IP, which totals a -0.4 WAR. In his last 5 starts, he has allowed 6 HR, 16 ER, and 30 H and has averaged 4.48 IP in this stretch. With all the respect in the world, it is laughable this is not a DFA situation. But with a President of Baseball Operations on a questionable retirement tour of his own, it all starts from the top down.

To make matters worse, Mikolas decided to join Foul Territory for an interview before his latest disaster piece versus Tampa Bay. Scott Braun started off mentioning how the season has been hit or miss for the Cardinals, and Mikolas did own up to needing to pitch better. But once Erik Kratz and Todd Frazier began diving into his future wanting to pitch in Japan or in MLB, the rest of the interview started to become awkward. Mikolas mentioned he wants to finish strong and healthy and that he has seen what it looks like when you are old and struggling. He specifically called out that he won't be record chasing, as his purpose is to keep pitching and that he solely wants to pitch for teams competing to win.

Miles Mikolas seemed to call out Adam Wainwright on the Foul Territory Podcast

Erik Kratz took very quick notice to this comment and immediately called him out on it. The delivery kept it vague but enough detail to know who Milkolas was talking about. But Kratz backed up Adam Wainwright quicker than Mikolas being pulled out of games. This rattled Mikolas and had him in defense mode as it were not a jab at Wainwright, but instead towards a different pitcher. The only pitcher in recent memory chasing any milestones or records has been Wainwright, so it did not land as well as Mikolas hoped it would. These two were longtime teammates in the recent successful era of Cardinals baseball and have been on record of being good friends. Could this be an overreaction? Absolutely. But the comment was not misconstrued or misinterpreted by the members of Foul Territory. It was very obvious what was said, and there is no denying that.