Let’s just all agree to not acknowledge the existence of the first half of this season.
I’m not a huge fan of bullpen days.
I get it. You put like 6-7 pitchers out there, and given that it’s basically one inning apiece, they should be good to go for that inning. In a way, it’s the best way to go through a game, if you were going to just go through one game and didn’t have anyone else to really start it. But a season isn’t played like that. The playoffs are barely played like that.
But I guess for the last game of the first half and with 4 days off after this, a bullpen game is appropriate.
The Cardinals, however, are not on the same. Sonny Gray will take the hill, and he has been … very good in 2025. He’s striking out nearly 10 batters per 9 innings, and his walk rate is under 2 per 9 inning along with a solid groundball rate. The groundball rate is an interesting tidbit, though. Earlier in his career, he was known as groundball specialist who could also strike out a guy or two, but over the last five years, his groundball rate has steadily declined with his strikeout rate (mostly) going up. It’s been a worthwhile tradeoff as his FIPs over the last 3 seasons have been the best of his career.
I’ve often thought having and using multiple versions of fastballs is the best way to elongate one’s career, but Gray takes it to extremes, throwing basically every kind there is.
The evolution of his repertoire is wild.
He was primarily a three-pitch pitcher earlier in his career, but you can see more lines and narrowed gaps between those lines as his career has progressed. It makes sense. If you can throw more pitches (effectively), then you can keep them guessing. The pitches just have to be quality pitches, and that does seem to be the case for Gray.
It would be nice if he doesn’t have it today.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Sunday, July 13th, 2:15 p.m. EDT
Location: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, MO
TV: FanDuel Sports Network South and Southeast
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan