It was an interesting call on Sunday, that will impact the Cardinals’ upcoming playoff series with the Atlanta Braves. While the Cards – with a 1 game lead – could have gone with another starting pitcher, they rolled out Jack Flaherty… their best arm.
In fact, the decision was really doubled-down upon: the Cardinals built a 9-0 lead (that was also the final score) after just 4 innings. At that point, St. Louis manager Mike Shildt could have chosen to pull Flaherty early with the chance of using him in Game 1 after all.