It's Time To Have Serious Conversation About Cardinals All-Star

The St. Louis Cardinals' starting rotation has been very solid so far this season.

So far this season, the Cardinals' starters have combined to pitch to a 3.97 ERA ahead of action on Friday. That's tied with the Seattle Mariners -- who are known for having one of the best rotations in baseball.

St. Louis' rotation has helped keep the team afloat but one who still has been getting some negative buzz is Miles Mikolas. Right now, he has a 4.76 ERA in seven starts. St. Louis entered the season with fans clamoring for the team to move on from Mikolas in some way. Pretty much nothing has stopped that noise, although he has been significantly better than that ERA number shows.

He allowed eight earned runs against the Boston Red Sox on April 6th and that has significantly skewed his ERA. In his six other starts, he has allowed just 10 earned runs across 31 1/3 innings pitched. That's a 2.87 ERA in six starts. The bad start against Boston can't be completely forgotten, but he has given the Cardinals a chance to win in six of his seven starts. Even that bad game against Boston, the club lost 18-7. Even if you subtract the eight earned runs he gave up, they still would've lost.

Obviously, you can't just subtract a start, but he should get some credit for the turnaround that he has had. The last two years didn't go great for him, but he's been consistent for the most part and seems to have found something. People should back off him, at least in the short term.