Cardinals fans who are still hung up on 200-inning seasons are fighting the wrong battle.
That’s the disconnect showing up again and again in conversations around the team, whether it’s on social media, in the comments of the Dealin' the Cards podcast, or just talking with other fans. The frustration tends to land on the Cardinals’ handling of their pitchers, especially when it comes to Leahy and the way his workload has been managed. But the reality is that the old measuring stick for starters has mostly disappeared from the modern game.
Brandon Kiley raised the subject on 101 ESPN this week, and the timing made the point even clearer. In 2011, 39 pitchers got past 200 innings.
In 2026, only Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara and Phillies left-hander Christopher Sanchez are on pace to do it. Even 175 innings has become a real hurdle, with only 25-30 starters realistically positioned to reach that mark this year.
That isn’t just a one-year blip. In 2025, only three starters reached 200 innings, while 26 got to 175.
In 2024, four pitchers hit 200, and 32 reached 175. That pattern keeps repeating, and it tells you exactly where the sport is right now.
So when fans look at the Cardinals and ask why they aren’t stretching pitchers the way they used to, the answer is simple: most of baseball isn’t doing that anymore.
In Leahy’s case, the Cardinals have already pushed him plenty. His workload went from 88 innings last season to 129.1 innings before Sunday’s outing, a 32% jump.
Even with that increase, the plan is still to keep him in three-inning stints down the stretch. The industry line is that teams should avoid increasing a pitcher’s workload by more than 20% year over year, or they raise the risk of injury.
The same idea shows up with Tanner Franklin. He’s a high-velocity arm with sick stuff on the mound, and the Cardinals are handling him as a starter after he worked out of the bullpen in college. His innings have jumped from 38.2 at the University of Tennessee to 99 in the minors, which is a 61% increase.
There are cases where the Cardinals have been cautious, too. Cooper Hjerpe is one example.
And plenty of their starting pitching prospects still aren’t being pushed beyond 85 pitches. But that doesn’t make St.
Louis some kind of outlier.
If anything, the Cardinals are operating in line with the way the sport works now. The 200-inning starter is no longer the standard.
It’s the exception. And if that’s the league-wide reality, then blaming the Cardinals for not living in the past misses the point.
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