It’s been a 2025 MLB postseason loaded with dynamite-packed home-run barrages and relentless displays of bombs bursting in air. These salvos are so fearsome, only Francis Scott Key could describe them – and he's been dead for 182 years.
The other stars of the 2025 postseason – the non-Ohtani category – are the celestial starting pitchers that have distinguished themselves with an ability to overpower, overwhelm or trick hitters into submission.
Through Sunday, in the first 78 games of the 2025 playoffs, participating starting pitchers have collectively crafted a 3.65 ERA. That figure will likely change some. But as of now, that 3.65 starter ERA would be the lowest in an MLB postseason since 2019, the fourth lowest over the last 15 postseasons, and the sixth lowest since 2000.
The list of standouts is lengthy and impressive. I’ll save most of the names for another but meaningful purpose.
I want to tie all of this in with the St. Louis Cardinals and their starting-pitcher future.
Some (not all) fans worry too much about the 2026 rotation. The Cardinals are into a rebuild – not a rewind of the past three seasons. Look forward, friends.
As president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom has already pointed out approximately 7,500 times: the Cardinals will not lunge to make impulsive moves. His message is frequently on point. Rebuilds aren’t rush jobs, OK?
“Our top priority will be to build our talent base for the long term,” Bloom said during his introductory news conference. “That may mean hard decisions and short-term sacrifices, but to get where we want to go, we can’t take shortcuts. And we won’t.”
Bloom’s signals are as clear as could be. His words require no translation. He’s adamant.
“When we have to choose between short-term gratification and our bigger goal of contending consistently, we will choose the long term,” Bloom said. “We will make moves with that ultimate goal in mind because, simply put, that’s where this organization needs to be.”
He is 100 percent correct on this.
OK, but we still want to know how Bloom’s operation will get done. I gave some thought to this, always a dangerous thing.
I know this may sound ridiculous – especially to the payroll, payroll, payroll, payroll fetishists – but the hunt for future-based starting pitching doesn’t have to have to be a long, frustrating, risky and overly expensive expedition to nowhere. But yes, it will take time. Because, you know, rebuild.
The Cardinals want to develop their own starting pitching. If we want them to get back to greatness, they have to get back to one of their top strengths during an extensive stretch of high-level success: a starting rotation heavily stocked with home-schooled hurlers.
What I’m going to do in this column is break it into three parts, hopefully for easier reading. Every now and then I like to take extra time to examine an issue that goes beyond the hot-take, quick-fire opinions. This is one of those occasions.
So here goes …
PART ONE: HISTORY LESSON
It's all about the value, and the common-sense approach, to developing your own starting pitchers. Because if you can’t, starting pitching is very, very expensive. Trying to bid on the top starting pitchers on the open free-agent market is not where the Cardinals will swim, though an isolated case or two may come along and they’ll take the dive. But only if they’ve established payroll efficiency with a rotation populated by young, cost-control dudes who were drafted and trained by the Bloom administration.
The Cardinals were really fantastic at this for a long time and then lost their touch. And they need to find it again. Bloom and his people are very good at this. So I’m confident in what they’ll do over time.
About that history lesson …
Consider:
– From 2009 through 2022, the Cardinals ranked 3rd in the majors in regular-season wins behind the Dodgers and Yankees. And they were 5th for most postseason victories, trailing the Dodgers, Astros, Yankees and Giants.
– Over those 14 seasons the Cards made the playoffs 10 times, competed in 79 postseason games, won two pennants, a World Series and battled in five NL Championship Series.
– Over the 14 seasons the only MLB teams to make the playoffs more often than St. Louis (10), were the Yankees (11) and Dodgers (11.)
– From 2009 through 2022 the Cardinals’ starting pitchers ranked 2nd in the majors in fielding-independent ERA, were 2nd in Win Probability Added, 3rd for most innings pitched, 3rd for most quality starts, and 6th for most complete games. During the 14 seasons only the Dodgers starting pitchers had more wins (841) than the STL starters (839).
Now here’s the kicker …
– The Cardinals made 2,164 starts over the 14 seasons.
– And 61 percent of those starts were taken by homemade pitchers that were signed by the Cardinals as amateurs, drafted by the Redbirds, or acquired at a young age from other teams. All 31 of those starters made their MLB debuts as Cardinals.
This list of home-schooled Cardinals from 2009 through 2022 was topped by Adam Wainwright, Lance Lynn, Michael Wacha, Jaime Garcia, Carlos Martinez, Jack Flaherty, Joe Kelly, Shelby Miller, Dakota Hudson and Luke Weaver. There were others who helped as well.
President of baseball operations John Mozeliak supplemented the internally developed starting pitchers by going outside for starters Kyle Lohse, Jake Westbrook, Miles Mikolas, John Lackey, Joel Pineiro, Jordan Montgomery Jose Quintana, Jon Lester, J.A. Happ and Edwin Jackson (among others.)
And before that, GM Walt Jocketty made a successful gamble on signing low-cost free-agent starter Chris Carpenter, who was released by the Blue Jays after undergoing shoulder surgery.
Carpenter missed the entire 2003 season in St. Louis to rehab, but Jocketty’s investment and patience paid off, with Carpenter pitching the Cardinals to two World Series titles and a couple of pennants and winning the NL Cy Young award in 2005. He’s a Cardinals Hall of Famer.
The funny thing about the payroll, payroll, payroll, payroll maniacs? The Cardinals burned a lot of money on their two most expensive free-agent starting pitcher signings: Mike Leake and Steven Matz. That was about $125 million shredded into the wastebasket. And then add another mistake with the second contract extension for Mikolas: three years, $55.7 million.
The best … and the smartest … and most cost efficient … and the way to do this is to cultivate your own starting pitching.
And when opportunities pop up, then jump in to make trades to fill voids.
When the midsize-market Cardinals were effective at developing their own, only the Dodgers and Yankees won more games in the majors over 14 seasons.
When the Cardinals lost that developmental touch, and their foundation collapsed, they started losing a lot of games. Over the past three seasons the Redbirds rank 25th among the 30 MLB teams in starting-pitching ERA and 22nd in winning percentage.
Bloom knows what to do here, so let him do his job without whining for him to sign free agents.
PART TWO: FINDING GOOD STARTING PITCHING IS NOT ‘MISSION IMPOSSIBLE.’
Oh, it’s possible. And I will use the 2025 postseason to give you many examples of what these playoff teams have done to collect lively and talented starters.
The only way this works is if I give you the virtual case by case information. But we’re talking several ways to do it: develop your own starting pitching, trade for starting pitching, tap the international market for starting pitching, or have the smarts to swoop in for good value free-agent signings at a low or reasonable cost.
By the way, you’ll notice that several of these pitchers were selected very early in the first round, so that in theory would limit the Cardinals’ access to pitchers of this caliber. That said, in the 2025 draft the Redbirds were able to get top pitching prospect Liam Doyle (Tennessee) with the 5th overall pick, and that was coming off an 83-win season. We'll see.
Cam Schlittler, Yankees: drafted by the team in the 7th round of the 2022 draft.
Connelly Early, Red Sox: drafted by Chaim Bloom in the 5th round of the 2023 draft.
Dylan Cease, Padres: drafted in the 6th round by the Cubs, traded to the White Sox, and traded again to the Padres. He was available. Several times. Oh, but good starting pitching is rarely available! Yeah, and that’s bullspit.
Tanner Bibee, Guardians: 5th round draft choice, 156th overall, in 2021. Nice!
Tarik Skubal, Tigers: drafted in the 9th round, 255th overall, in 2018. Perhaps the best starting pitcher in the majors, selected in the ninth round. Starting pitching is out there if a front office has the aptitude for spotting it.
Freddy Peralta, Brewers: international signing; the Cardinals must get busier in this area and appear to be doing just that.
Garrett Crochet: drafted by the White Sox with the 11th overall pick in 2020. Traded to the Red Sox for four prospects but only two of the prospects mattered. The prospects were drafted by Chaim Bloom.
Shane Bieber, Blue Jays: Toronto got him from the Guardians at the 2025 trade deadline for a nominal prospect. Bieber helped the Jays down the stretch, and Monday night he’ll start Game 7 against Seattle with the winner advancing to the World Series. But you know what they say: don’t even try to find starting pitching because it simply isn’t out there. (LOL).
Bryce Miller, Mariners: 4th round draft pick, 2021.
Trey Yesavage, Blue Jays: the 20th overall pick in the 2024 draft has put together an impressive 2025 postseason for Toronto.
Christopher Sanchez, Phillies: Originally signed out of the Dominican Republic by the Tampa Bay front office that included Chaim Bloom as a top executive, Sanchez was eventually flipped to the Phillies for a low-level infield prospect. (Bloom had been hired to run the Boston front office by then.)
Gavin Williams, Guardians: drafted 23rd overall in 2021.
George Kirby, Mariners: 20th overall draft pick in 2019.
Hunter Greene, Reds: 2nd overall pick in 2017.
Jack Flaherty: 34th overall pick by St. Louis in 2014.
Jesus Lazardo, Phillies: drafted in the 3rd round, 94th overall by the Nationals in 2016. Subsequently traded to the A’s, then traded to the Marlins, then traded to the Phils. But good, cost-controlled starting pitching is rarely available in a trade, right? Once again: BS.
Kevin Gausman, Blue Jays: 4th overall pick by the Orioles in 2012. He’s had quite the journey. The O’s gave up on Gausman too soon. Traded him to the Braves for little. The Reds picked him up. That didn’t last. Then it was onto the Giants, and finally the Blue Jays. Traded once, waived once, signed as a free agent three times, and didn’t start to make any big money until 2021.
Logan Gilbert, Mariners: 1st round, 14th overall pick, in 2018. It’s interesting how the Mariners have drafted and developed so many good young starting pitchers. One of the guys responsible for that, Matt Pierpont, was hired by Bloom and Rob Cerfolio to become the Cardinals’ Director of Pitching. Sounds good to me.
Matthew Boyd: the lefty was a 6th round pick by the Blue Jays in 2013, traded to the Tigers for David Price in 2015, spent a long time in Detroit, spent time with the Guardians and Giants, and had a good comeback season for the Cubs in 2025 after signing a two-year deal for $29 million total.
Max Fried, Yankees: drafted 7th overall by the Padres, traded to the Braves, had some good seasons – three-time All-Star and twice received Cy Young votes. Cashed in with a $200 million free agent contract with the Yankees before the 2025 season. He’s endured some injuries. Again, for all of the mewling about starting pitching being scarce on the trade market, I’m not sure how the Braves got him and three other players from the Padres for outfielder Justin Upton. Again: starting pitching is available.
Nick Pivetta, Padres: drafted by the Nationals in the 4th round in 2013, traded to the Phillies for closer Jonathan Papelbon in 2015. In 2020, Chaim Bloom acquired Pivetta from the Phillies for two journeymen relievers. The Red Sox got 105 starts from Pivetta over four-plus seasons, and Pivetta helped pitch the 2021 Red Sox to a spot in the ALCS. But … it’s just so dang impossible to find solid starting pitching in the trade market. Isn’t it funny to see Chaim Bloom’s name popping up here so many times? He seems to be able to find starting pitching.
Tyler Glasnow, Dodgers: drafted in the 5th round by the Pirates in 2011, 152nd overall. He was traded to Tampa Bay in 2018 in a deal that was easily the best ever made by Bloom and the Rays’ shrewd front office during his career there. Check this out: the Pirates traded Glasnow and outfielder Austin Meadows to Tampa Bay for a fading starting pitcher (Chris Archer.) The Pirates agreed to add a player to be named later. The player turned out to be talented starting pitcher Shane Baz, who is rebounding from Tommy John surgery and still with the Rays. This trade was a heist. I still can’t figure out why the Cardinals were interested in hiring this Bloom character. Can you?
Zack Littell, Reds: drafted by the Mariners in the 11th round in 2013, Littell has done good work for the Twins, Giants, Rays and Reds. He has a 3.88 ERA in eight MLB seasons.
THE OVERVIEW
There’s your postseason-pitcher rundown that shows how the best teams in baseball for 2025 have discovered plenty of outstanding pitching without making any deep-hurt sacrifices in trades.
Of course, I didn’t mention Shohei Ohtani or Mishinobu Yamamoto in here. And why would I? They both signed humongous free-agent contracts with the Dodgers and I don’t think the Cardinals were on their respective wish lists. (Yes, that’s sarcasm.) Same with Roki Sosaki, who was recruited by the Dodgers out of Japan last offseason.
But despite what you think, what you were led to believe, or what you hear being regurgitated by the media …
Plenty of good starting pitching is out there and can always be found through the draft, in trades, by way of the international market, or via hidden-gem signings.
Your baseball team just needs the right front-office people to be searching for it. And patience is absolutely necessary, because we don’t see many starting pitchers go straight from the draft to the big leagues. That said, as this postseason shows, we'll see more and more of these young and talented arms getting fast-tracked to the majors.
The Cardinals are turning the corner in this area by adding starting-pitching prospects Liam Doyle, Quinn Mathews, Ixan Henderson (and others) in recent drafts. The acquisition of Tekoah Roby in the Jordan Montgomery trade (2023) will eventually pay off for the Cardinals.
Of the top 41 St. Louis prospects as identified by FanGraphs, 27 are pitchers. And 15 of the 27 are identified as starting pitchers.
At the MLB Pipeline, 15 of STL’s top 30 prospects are pitchers.
At Baseball America, the Cards top 30 prospect list is loaded with starting pitchers. And there will be more, because Liam Doyle (and a couple of others) weren’t included in time for BA’s summer update deadline.
Progress is definitely being made here, and the trend should only grow stronger as Bloom, Rob Cerfolio, Pierpont and additional hires settle into the St. Louis front office to give the Cardinals an exciting team off the field … which in time will lead to an exciting team on the field at Busch Stadium.
And there will be starting pitching. Good starting pitching. And plenty of it.
Thanks for reading … and please pardon my typos.
-Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STLSportsCentral, catch him weekdays on the “Gashouse Gang” or “Redbird Rush Hour” on KMOX, and Bernie does a weekly “Seeing Red” podcast on the Cardinals with his longtime pal Will Leitch. Bernie joins Katie Woo on the “Cardinal Territory” video-podcast each week, and you can catch a weekly “reunion” segment here at STL Sports with Bernie’s appearance on the Randy Karraker Show every Friday morning at 10:30 am.