Jack Flaherty Should Not Have Pitched in Game 5 After Cardinals Raced Out to Insane Lead

Baseball in 2019 is all about on-the-fly adjustments and boldness.

Pitcher not working? Yank him.

Starter not ready? Bullpen, innings one through nine.

You know this. We don't have to accept the staid old ways anymore. Infielders stand directly up the middle now. No one has to grin and bear it through trials and tribulations.

And after a 10-run first inning in Game 5 of the NLDS in Atlanta, the Cardinals had no reason to accept a rotation bind.

Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty, the man who sported an ERA under 1.00 for a good chunk of a red-hot second half, has no use or import in this game. The last man in the Cards bullpen could find a way to protect a 10-run lead on a team that currently has a vested interest in leaving the stadium. Then, Flaherty could go Game 1 (at his hometown field in Dodger Stadium, or right at home at Busch), and the team wouldn't have to be resigned to the fact that he'd be appearing mid-series instead of right at the top.

But, no. Flaherty toed the rubber when the top of the inning massacre had ended, in many ways harming his eligibility for the next series. Now it'll be Adam Wainwright, Dakota Hudson, and Miles Mikolas somehow sharing the first three contests, taking away the advantage of having Flaherty in the first place.

I'm all for tradition. But when it actively prevents you from setting yourself up properly for success, there's no defending it.

Flaherty is a proud pitcher. He should've pulled himself.