The St. Louis Cardinals are one game away from moving on the NLCS. Only one thing stands in their way.
Mike Foltynewicz
Foltynewicz has disappointed as a whole in 2019, coming off of a 2018 season where he finished 8th in the NL Cy Young voting. His ERA shot up from 2.85 in 2018 to 4.54 in 2019. Foltynewicz was struggling so badly that he was actually demoted midseason. But Foltynewicz found his form and went 4-1 in the month of September with a blistering ERA of just 1.50. His recent success was also seen early in the Postseason.
In game 2 of the NLDS, Foltynewicz went 7 innings of shutout baseball against the Cardinals, racking up 7 strikeouts while only allowing 3 hits. He out dueled Cardinals Ace Jack Flaherty who had a night of his own going 7 innings himself allowing 3 runs on 8 hits and striking out 8.
Game 5 of the NLDS will come down to how much damage the Cardinals can do off Foltynewicz. He’s been spectacular down the stretch but the Cards have some success off of him this season. The Cardinals put up 8 runs on him back in May where he didn’t get past the 5th inning. Since that start however, Foltynewicz has gone 13 innings without the Cardinals scoring an earned run.
Only 3 Cardinals hitters have a career OPS over .800 against Foltynewicz with at least 10 at bats. Those players being Kolten Wong (1.625), Paul DeJong (1.064), and Matt Carpenter (1.054). All three of these hitters have been relatively cold during the NLDS thus far, and each could use a boost going forward. If the Cardinals hope to come away with a victory in game 5, it’s imperative for at least one of these guys to have success.
How are you feeling going into game 5? Jack Flaherty takes the hill and has been phenomenal down the stretch. He gives the Cardinals the best chance to win, but will the offense step up? We will find out tomorrow!
Thanks for Reading! Follow me on Twitter for all of my baseball talk @AaronMSTL!
Aaron M.
