The St. Louis Cardinals' bullpen was one of the league’s best units in 2024, but in 2025 they have plummeted to 25th in the league in bullpen ERA. The bullpen's success in 2024 was largely driven by Ryan Helsley, who set a franchise record with 49 saves and posted a 10.7 K/9.
This season, Helsley has saved three games with one blown save, which occurred on April 6th against the Boston Red Sox. In that outing, Helsley walked four Red Sox hitters while allowing just one hit. The Red Sox tied the game and eventually got the best of Ryan Fernandez in the 10th. Helsley is currently among the league’s worst in walk rate at 22.2%, leading to higher-stress situations during his appearances.
A deeper issue is a simple one: Cardinals relievers have struggled to throw first-pitch strikes. Kyle Leahy has been the most effective Cardinal reliever when falling behind 1-0, allowing only one hit and no walks to the 14 hitters who reached a 1-0 count against him. Meanwhile, returning late-inning relievers Fernandez and JoJo Romero have allowed a combined seven hits and ten walks in 32 batters faced.
Helsley has only appeared in 8 of the Cardinals’ 24 games this season. The fireball-throwing closer has been held back by those who take the mound before him. At the beginning of the season, it was fair to assume that the "big four" in the Cardinals bullpen would be Phil Maton, Fernandez, Romero, and Helsley. But with Fernandez now struggling and posting an astronomical 11.25 ERA, the solution may be as simple as shifting him into lower-stress situations and promoting Leahy into a late-inning role.
With the Cardinals’ offense putting up the sixth-most runs in all of baseball so far this season, the bullpen remains the key factor in turning the ship around and competing in July and down the stretch.