Cardinals Insider Pegs Rotation As Trend To Watch In June

The St. Louis Cardinals may be cooling off a bit after a red-hot month of May. They went from 14-19 on May 2 to eight games over .500 entering the month of June.

However, they have lost their last two series and now face a tough challenge with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays and Milwaukee Brewers next on the schedule.

Their last two turns through the starting rotation have not been good, save for Sonny Gray's seven scoreless innings on Saturday against the Texas Rangers.

With a tough stretch coming up, Katie Woo of The Athletic pegged the starting rotation as a major factor this month.

"St. Louis is still working through its pitching plans for the next week. With just one scheduled off day remaining in June, the Cardinals will use a spot starter within the next few days. Though not official, Michael McGreevy is the obvious candidate. He last pitched Tuesday for Triple-A Memphis and would be on track to start Sunday against the Dodgers if the Cardinals stick to his current schedule," Woo wrote.

St. Louis watched Matthew Liberatore leave his start early against the Kansas City Royals on Thursday. The team believes he won't miss time, but the rotation needs to hold up for them to remain in contention.

Aside from Gray and Liberatore, the St. Louis rotation has been very hit-or-miss as of late, and that is a trend they need to fix in order to climb to the top of the National League Central.