As the St. Louis Cardinals continue to look for ways to climb up the rankings in the National League Central, a change in the rotation is coming.
Matthew Liberatore is expected to make his 2023 MLB debut on Wednesday night as the St. Louis Cardinals wrap up a series with the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium. The 23-year-old left-hander started seven games for the Cardinals last season, and looks to be a part of a temporary six-man rotation in a stretch of home games between the Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers this week.
Those games are part of a run that has St. Louis playing every day until their next scheduled off day on May 31.
St. Louis Cardinals rumors: What does the pitching shuffle mean?
With Liberatore sliding into the start on Wednesday, St. Louis will push Adam Wainwright back into a start on Thursday night to kick off a four-game series against the Dodgers. It will be the third start of the season for the 41-year-old Wainwright, who has struggled in his first two starts, posting a 7.20 ERA and 1.700 WHIP. However, there is some good news for Cardinals fans as Wainwright's FIP stands at 5.10, indicating he might have encountered some bad luck in his previous outings.
Exactly how long the six-man rotation will remain is unclear, but the Cardinals are still looking for answers for a rotation that enters Wednesday ranked 27th in MLB with minus-1.7 bWAR this season.
St. Louis Cardinals: Playoff odds are disheartening
The Cardinals have dug themselves into a hole to begin the 2023 season, entering Wednesday with a 17-26 record and still trying to figure out how to get out of the division cellar.
That tough start to the season has put a big dent into the playoff odds for St. Louis. Per FanGraphs, St. Louis has a 33.5 percent chance to make the postseason. Compare that to the 67.4 percent chance given to St. Louis before the season began and you can see just how far the Cardinals have tumbled compared to the rest of the National League.
The silver lining for St. Louis fans is that that 33.5 percent chance is still the second-best in the NL Central, well behind Milwaukee's 71.8 percent, but ahead of the other three teams that currently are ahead of them in the division standings.
Of course, it's still mid-May and things can fluctuate quickly if the Cardinals can turn things around before Memorial Day. However, time is definitely not on the side of St. Louis, and the playoff odds are beginning to show that.
St. Louis Cardinals: Nolan Arenado etches his name in franchise record books
With his second-inning solo home run on Tuesday night, Arenado blasted a homer in his fifth consecutive game. With that shot, he became the ninth player in St. Louis history to have that kind of a power streak, and the first since Paul Goldschmidt did it in six games between July 22-27, 2019.
Should Arenado connect on a homer in his sixth consecutive game on Wednesday night, it will match a personal best for him. The seven-time All-Star third baseman has already done that once in his career, launching homers in six straight contests as a member of the Colorado Rockies from September 1-5, 2015.
While Arenado will be looking to match his personal home run streak against the Brewers, he'll also be looking to reach another milestone. The homer on Tuesday put him at 999 career RBI, so the 1,000-RBI mark is well within reach and will likely be a cause for celebration inside Busch Stadium should he get there sometime before the homestand ends on Sunday.