St. Louis Cardinals Will Benefit In NLCS By Not Starting Adam Wainwright In Game 4 Of NLDS

By Drew Jenkins @DrewJenkins77 on October 9, 2014

When it was announced that the Los Angeles Dodgerr would start Clayton Kershaw on three days’ rest in Game 4 of the 2014 NLDS, the St. Louis Cardinals faced a tough decision. They could either start their own ace Adam Wainwright on three days’ rest to give themselves a better chance of beating Kershaw, or they could go with Shelby Miller and hold on to Wainwright.

Ultimately, the Cardinals decided to start Miller over Wainwright, and they will benefit in the NLCS because of it.

Starting Wainwright certainly would have been appealing to the Cardinals. Kershaw is one of, if not the best pitcher in the league. The Cardinals already beat him once, but beating him twice was going to be a tall task, and the best way to help themselves do that was to start Wainwright, whose 2.38 regular season ERA was much better than Miller’s 3.74 mark. Winning Game 4 meant using only one starting pitcher instead of two if the series would have gone to Game 5, and it also meant an additional day of rest for the bullpen and position players.

Starting Wainwright in Game 4, however, would have meant he would not have been available to pitch until Sunday in Game 2 of the NLCS unless they wanted to start him Saturday in Game 1 on three days’ rest. Now, Wainwright gets the benefit of having over a week’s worth of rest instead of potentially having him throw two games in a row on three days’ rest. He will be available to potentially pitch in Game 4 and Game 7, though each would be on three days’ rest.

Say that the Cardinals lost the first three games of the series. This would make game four a win-or-go-home situation. In this scenario, they would be able to bring back Wainwright on three days’ rest, and they could then bring him back again if they managed to get to Game 7. They could even employ this strategy if they had lost two of the first three games of the series.

Had the Cardinals started Wainwright in Game 4 of the NLDS, they likely would have needed to start him in Game 2 of the NLCS. This would have meant that no matter what the situation was, Wainwright only would have been available to throw one other game in the series, either Game 5 on three days’ rest or Game 6 on regular rest. Instead, the Cardinals will have the ability to throw Wainwright in three games if need be.

In the end, the Cardinals took a gamble by not starting Wainwright against Kershaw, and it paid off. The Cardinals went on to beat Kershaw for the second time in the series, and Miller had a nice game, throwing 5.2 innings and giving up two runs. Wainwright did not have to throw a game on three days’ rest, and he can now start Game 1 of the NLCS. That may come back to have no big effects, but it could also turn out to have a huge impact on the Cardinals’ playoff run.

Drew Jenkins is an MLB writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @DrewJenkins77, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google