Central STL News

Miles Mikolas made his final start of the 2025 season for the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday at Wrigley Field, as the team looks ahead to changes in its pitching rotation. Mikolas, who is set to become a free agent, allowed three home runs over five innings in a 12-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs. This defeat confirmed a losing record for St. Louis (78-82) for the second time in three years.

Manager Oliver Marmol announced that left-handed pitcher Matthew Liberatore would not pitch during the last weekend of the season. Liberatore completed 29 starts with a 4.21 ERA and threw 151 2/3 innings this year. “He showed exactly what he needed to show,” Marmol said. “Throwing an extra game on him at this point based on being eliminated does not make sense.”

Liberatore and Andre Pallante are expected to be the only returning Cardinals pitchers who made at least 25 starts and pitched over 100 innings this season.

Looking ahead, Michael McGreevy will start Saturday’s game, while Kyle Leahy—who pitched mainly in relief this year—will open Sunday’s game as part of plans to prepare him for a potential starting role next season.

Mikolas struggled with home runs at Wrigley Field throughout the year, giving up nine there—the most by any visiting pitcher in Major League Baseball at a single ballpark this season. He surpassed Chris Carpenter’s previous club record of six homers allowed at Wrigley in one season and matched Hall of Famer Warren Spahn’s mark from 1958.

“They took some good swings, had a good approach against him,” Marmol said about Mikolas’ outing. “Still competed to give us five innings, give us a look at it.”

After his start, Mikolas commented: “Not my best. Thought my fastball came along the last couple innings. Felt really good physically. Just went in there, you know, trying to challenge some guys. Got beat here and there, but not my best. Not as good as you want it to be.”

In relief appearances during Friday's game, Gordon Graceffo and Chris Roycroft both struggled during a seventh inning when Chicago scored seven runs.

“You dissect it enough to understand what to gather from it, what not to, and some of the things you're gathering from it are a continuation of the things that we've already had conversations about,” Marmol said regarding Graceffo and Roycroft’s performances. “So you just continue to drive those things home, because we need them to be good.”

If Mikolas leaves St. Louis through free agency after eight seasons with the team—including two All-Star selections—he finishes with an overall record of 68-69 since joining from Japan’s Yomiuri Giants.

“I’m too optimistic to fully commit to the idea that I’m not coming back,” Mikolas said about his future with St. Louis. “There’s 29 other teams, but I think it’s pretty well known what my favorite colors are -- [I’m a] Cardinal red kind of guy. If this is my last one, then I really did cherish my time here and couldn’t have been happier to be a part of this organization for the last eight years.”