Central STL News

Michael McGreevy, now a full-time member of the St. Louis Cardinals' starting rotation, faced challenges during Sunday's game against the San Diego Padres at Busch Stadium. Previously called up from Triple-A for spot starts and relief appearances, McGreevy recently settled into his St. Louis apartment but encountered difficulties on the mound in his latest outing.

McGreevy struggled early in the game, walking Padres leadoff hitter Fernando Tatis Jr. after being ahead 0-2 in the count and allowing nine hits and seven runs over 4 2/3 innings. Reflecting on his performance, McGreevy said, “Baseball is not a nice game,” and added, “But it’s about keeping my head high at the end of the day. One outing doesn’t define me. I know that I’ve got [the Padres] next week [in San Diego] and it’s going to be better.”

The Cardinals lost 9-2 to the Padres, ending their series with a split after winning the first two games. The team is competing with San Diego for a National League Wild Card spot and will face them again in a three-game series beginning Friday in San Diego. Tensions were high during the series as benches cleared twice following six hit-by-pitches.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol commented on the outcome: “That’s baseball,” he said regarding splitting the series. “That’s a loaded roster, and I thought we held our own pretty damn good. You look at what we did in the first two games, when we played clean baseball. They outexecuted us over the last two, and you split the series. We’ll see them again shortly.”

With the MLB Trade Deadline approaching on July 31 at 6 p.m. ET (https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-trade-deadline-date), speculation around potential trades has increased for St. Louis. Despite Nolan Arenado's recent slump—going 0-for-3 Sunday and extending his struggles to 2-for-22—sources told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand that Arenado remains an attractive option for several teams seeking a third baseman (https://www.mlb.com/news/nolan-arenado-trade-rumors). These include division rivals such as the Cubs, Reds, Brewers, as well as teams like the Astros, Phillies, Mariners, and Tigers.

Arenado would need to approve any trade due to his no-trade clause; he previously vetoed a move to Houston last December (https://www.mlb.com/cardinals/news/nolan-arenado-no-trade-clause). He currently ranks tied for fourth among all MLB third basemen in outs above average (https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/outs_above_average?type=Fielder&year=2025&team=&min=100).

Earlier this week in Colorado, McGreevy had delivered a stronger performance by limiting the Rockies to seven hits and two runs (one earned) over seven innings—a showing that led to Erick Fedde being designated for assignment so McGreevy could join the rotation full-time.

Sunday's outing contrasted sharply with his previous start; after walking Tatis Jr., McGreevy gave up key hits including multiple doubles by Manny Machado that contributed significantly to San Diego's offense.

“It was really awesome to start off 0-2 to Tatis, but it’s absolutely unacceptable to throw four straight balls after that,” McGreevy said of his opening walk. “I need to be more competitive than that.

“From then on, it was just inconsistency with the slider. That’s my strikeout pitch, my rollover pitch and my weak contact pitch. The misses were too uncompetitive to a good team that kind of honey-holed me and was able to cross off the slider and zone in on different areas. They take advantage of mistakes.”

The Cardinals continue their push for postseason contention while also facing decisions about possible roster changes ahead of Thursday's trade deadline.