3 National League teams facing a make-or-break June

St. Louis Cardinals

Things are not going well in St. Louis and every time the Cardinals appear to take two steps forward, they take one step back. To make matters worse, they are doing it in the NL Central where mediocre baseball could be good enough to win the division.

The Milwaukee Brewers and Pirates are sitting on top of the division, but neither has done anything to separate themselves from the other teams. St. Louis owns the worst winning percentage in the National League, but are just 6.5 games back of the Brewers.

The offense is not the main issue with the Cardinals, it’s been the lack of quality starts by their starters and bullpen implosions. Adam Wainwright returned in May but has not been the pitcher he was with a 2-1 record and with 6.15 ERA in five outings. In 26.1 innings, he’s allowed 18 earned runs, which will not win many games. Jordan Montgomery has been hit or miss, mostly a miss, and is a vital piece of the rotation if they are going to turn things around. Miles Mikolas has anchored the rotation with a 4-2 record and a 3.74 ERA.

Again, the offense is not the issue in St. Louis, but if any moves are going to be made by the front office, it’s going to have to be with arms, not bats. A good June would get the Cardinals back into the mix, however, if they find themselves in the same spot they are currently in and 10 games back, then it might be time to make some tough decisions they’re not used to making. Starting the month off getting swept in Pittsburgh over the weekend is not going to help matters.