The Cardinals are staring at a familiar bullpen question, and it all comes back to Riley O'Brien.
He’s been the National League leader in saves, piling up 35 saves and 48 games finished while appearing in 58 games for St. Louis this season.
On paper, that’s the kind of production teams want locked into the ninth inning. But the last week has cracked open a debate that had been simmering around the fanbase: should the Cardinals keep riding with him?
The short answer is that O'Brien has been hit hard lately. Over his last five outings, he’s allowed at least one run in three of them and owns a staggering 20.25 ERA across four innings.
The worst of it came Aug. 23 against the Philadelphia Phillies, when he gave up six runs in 2/3 innings. That one outing has a way of warping the numbers, especially for a reliever, but it also doesn’t erase the fact that the results have gone sideways.
In those last five appearances, O'Brien has been tagged for nine total runs. The home run ball hasn’t been the main problem, either.
He allowed one homer in that six-run outing against Philadelphia, and that’s the only long ball he’s surrendered over the stretch. The bigger issue has been contact.
In those five games, he had only one outing in which he didn’t give up a hit, and over his last four innings on the mound, opponents have stacked up 10 base hits.
That’s enough to make any closer conversation feel a little louder, especially with St. Louis still hanging around the playoff race.
The Cardinals aren’t in great shape, but they’re not out of it, and every game carries weight now. If the club decides it needs a different look at the back end, Gordon Graceffo stands out as an option worth considering.
He has a 2.78 ERA in 55 appearances, along with 15 games finished and one save.
Still, the case for patience is strong. O'Brien has already gone beyond his previous career highs in both games pitched and innings. He’s at 58 games and 56 innings this year, after logging 42 games and 48 innings last season, both of which were career bests at the time.
That matters because this slump is happening on top of a season that was excellent for a long stretch. Before the six-run meltdown against the Phillies, O'Brien had posted a 2.94 ERA in 53 appearances.
That run was good enough to earn his first All-Star nod. It’s hard to dismiss that kind of body of work because of one rough week.
And there’s a bigger backdrop here, too: the Cardinals’ bullpen has already had its share of problems this season. O'Brien has been one of the few steady pieces until now. He also brings a 53-game sample of strong pitching before this recent skid, and last year he put up a 2.06 ERA in 42 appearances.
So yes, the questions are fair. But for now, St. Louis has enough reason to let O'Brien keep the job a little longer and see whether this is just a bad stretch or the start of something more.
In Other News...
Cardinals Trade Regret Keeps Growing At Their Biggest Weak Spot
The Cardinals decision to move Tommy Edman in a three-team deal with the Dodgers and White Sox was supposed to help them patch a playoff race without giving up the kind of prospects they wanted to keep. St. Louis came away with Erick Fedde and Tommy Pham, and it briefly looked like a win-now gamble that fit the moment, especially with the organization trying to squeeze value out of the roster it had built.
Now the long view looks far less kind. Miguel Vargas, the young third baseman sent to Chicago in the swap, has developed into one of baseballs best hitters in 2026, while the Cardinals have continued to search for stability at third base. The part of the deal that once felt like a manageable price has become a reminder of a bigger issue for St. Louis, especially after the club eventually shifted away from pushing for immediate contention and toward a rebuild. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Just Took A Rotation Hit That Changes One Recent Trade
The Cardinals pitching depth took a jolt this week when Hunter Dobbins underwent elbow reconstructive surgery Wednesday, a setback that changes the picture for one of the clubs more recent trade additions. Dobbins had given St. Louis a useful stretch before the injury, posting a 3.67 ERA in 11 appearances this season, and his arrival had offered another arm to help stabilize a rotation that can never seem to have enough certainty.
Instead, the focus now turns to recovery, with a Cardinals official saying he will face a 12-month rehabilitation period after his second surgery on the same right elbow. The timetable points to him missing the rest of the 2026 season and most of 2027, leaving St. Louis to rethink how it fills the innings it expected to get from him and how this move fits into the broader plan for the staff. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Deadline Trade Suddenly Looks Better Than Fans Expected
The trade deadline move that sent Dustin May and JoJo Romero to Milwaukee had plenty of Cardinals fans wondering how much immediate value St. Louis was giving up, especially with the rotation already asking a lot of its remaining arms. May was supposed to bring stability for the Brewers down the stretch, and the kind of trade involving a big-league pitcher for prospects usually carries a familiar wait-and-see warning for the club that deals him away.
Instead, the early returns have leaned the Cardinals way. May has labored through five starts with Milwaukee, and St. Louis has already added Alexander Frias and Josiah Ragsdale to the farm system, giving the front office at least some reason to feel better about the deadline deal even as the big-league rotation continues to need help. For a team trying to balance present needs with future value, this one suddenly looks a little more favorable than it did in July. [Read more 🡒]