Despite an impressive regular season that saw them win their most games since 2015, the Cardinals were one and done in the playoffs, squandering home-field advantage in an opening-round loss to the Phillies. Wainwright, who did not pitch in the NL Wild Card (though he may have had the series extended to a winner-take-all Game 3), thought he owed fans an explanation for his poor performance down the stretch (2-3, 7.22 ERA over his final six starts), citing a mechanical flaw in his delivery.
Lamenting that it took him the better part of a month to identify the issue (he was overcompensating from a knee injury suffered in late August), Wainwright apologized profusely for not being “diligent” enough in his film study, letting the problem fester over several weeks. While Wainwright eventually made the necessary adjustments to restore his velocity and timing, the right-hander wishes he had found a solution sooner, taking full responsibility for his late-season struggles.
It's rare to see a player display this kind of accountability, though the 41-year-old has always been unusual in that regard, showing an unprecedented level of transparency and self-reflection for an athlete of his stature. With longtime teammates Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols both calling it quits, Wainwright will soon confront his own baseball mortality, faced with the difficult decision to either continue playing or rest on his laurels, retiring as a three-time All-Star and two-time World Series Champion. If this is it for Wainwright, he’ll finish as the third-winningest pitcher in Cardinals franchise history behind only Hall-of-Famers Bob Gibson and Jesse Haines.
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