“John Lackey will be throwing the first one”, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny confirmed before Wednesday’s workout at Busch Stadium.
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The Cardinals will play host in the series opener to the victor of Wednesday night’s NL wild-card game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs in Pittsburgh. The front-runners for the rest of the NLDS rotation are Michael Wacha, Jamie Garcia and Lance Lynn.
Lackey, 36, went 13-10 with a 2.77 ERA (142 ERA+) and 1.21 WHIP in 33 starts and 218 innings this year. Not coincidentally, Game 1 will be played in St. Louis. “I know it’s a hot topic, and I get it. Believe me, it’s been something, since that day in Pittsburgh, we really hadn’t tried to distract ourselves with getting too far ahead”.
“I know people say that’s a great problem to have”, Matheny said. He predicted the postseason roster could be ready to be made public by Thursday’s workout. “I think everybody who follows this team closely realizes there’s a lot of decisions that need to be made”.
As for another one of their veterans, catcher Yadier Molina could be back for the NLDS after missing the last couple weeks of the season with a torn ligament in his thumb. We’ve spent a lot of hours trying to figure out what is going to be best for this club.
The 33-year-old caught, hit, blocked balls and conducted other drills on Tuesday and the Cardinals also posted a tweet of him hitting today.
“All those things are pointing in the direction that it’s possible”, Matheny said, adding the biggest worry is handling foul tips.
Throughout his career, Lackey has pitched in a total of 21 postseason games, starting in 18 of them.
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Randal Grichuk can throw almost 200 feet following an elbow injury and could start in right field. They’ve already announced their starter for Game 1 and they’re optimistic one of their top players can return from an injury.
