WASHINGTON — From their new perch of a winning record, the Cardinals could look back Sunday and acknowledge they did not have the start to the season they wanted.
But thanks to their All-Star they had the finish they needed.
Ryan Helsley, who has thrived in a mutually defined role and spun so many of the Cardinals’ close games into wins, received his second career All-Star Game selection Sunday. He set a Cardinals record with 31 saves (so far) ahead of the All-Star break, and his streak of 31 consecutive save opportunities converted shattered the club’s previous record by seven players.
Major League Baseball announced the final rosters for next week’s All-Star Game, in Texas, and the Cardinals, after their 8-3 victory against the Nationals, applauded their Lonestar and how he was essential to making sure a slow start did not convulse into a lost season.
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“We just talked about it in our clubhouse,†manager Oliver Marmol said. “We didn’t start off well, and it takes a lot physically and emotionally to get back to where we are right now. And we’ve played a lot of close games. A big part of us being where we are and winning a lot of those one-run ballgames is Helsley taking the ball every day. That is extremely meaningful.
“Oh, gosh, he’s been incredible.â€
Helsley was chosen by officials at Major League Baseball to represent the Cardinals in the 94th Midsummer Classic at the Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Field. Every team is guaranteed at least one All-Star, and the Cardinals did not have a position player voted to start by the fans or a candidate selected in the annual vote of players, so MLB had to pick.
A year after an All-Star Game was rich with former Cardinals — including National League starting pitcher Zack Gallen — this year’s exhibition game rosters feature the one current Cardinal and one former Cardinal, Atlanta designated hitter Marcel Ozuna.
Helsley previously was honored in the 2022 All-Star Game, at Dodger Stadium — he was just becoming the Cardinals’ closer and on his way to the career high for saves (19) that he’s already surpassed.
A second selection puts him in select company for a Cardinals pitcher.
Helsley is the first Cardinals reliever since Hall of Famer Lee Smith to be selected for multiple All-Star Games. Helsley joins Matt Morris as the only Cardinals pitchers to be drafted and developed by the team and also make multiple All-Star appearances for the club. Morris, a starter, will be inducted into the Cardinals’ Hall of Fame this summer. Helsley, Morris, and Carlos Martinez, an international signee, are the only homegrown pitchers in the modern era picked to represent the Cardinals in multiple All-Star Games.
The Philadelphia Phillies led the majors with seven All-Star selections, and the Dodgers had six. It is the fifth consecutive season that LA has had at least five All Stars.
Four rookies were chosen for this year’s rosters, and that group included Cubs starter Shota Imanaga, who also was selected by MLB officials. Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Paul Skenes was chosen by MLB to replace Phillies starter Zack Wheeler on the roster. Off to a 5-0 start to his career, Skenes was the No. 1 pick in the MLB draft a year ago.
The Cardinals have a handful of candidates who could be added in the coming days to the All-Star rosters as replacements for injured or absent players. Helsley’s dynamic-duo setup team of lefty JoJo Romero and right-hander Andrew Kittredge are potential additions as they rank in the top three for holds this season, and either starter Sonny Gray or shortstop Masyn Winn could get a nod depending on the available depth at their positions.
For Helsley, the honor comes with strong ties to family.
His previous selection to the All-Star Game came as he was about to become a father and emerging as the Cardinals’ closer. This year, his wife and daughter will be able to attend — outfits already have been planned for the toddler, Helsley said — and it will be a short trip for other members of the family, too. Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, is the closest big-league ballpark to Helsley’s hometown in Oklahoma.
It’s his career that has gone far since his previous selection, too. A hotshot, fireballer just establishing himself in 2022, Helsley remains fireballer with some of the fastest pitches in the game to go with a major league-best 31 saves.
“I think, this time I’m more of a closer,†Helsley said. “Last time, I was just a reliever, I think. I’m kind of taking that role head on and really trying to be available every day and every opportunity when it comes my way.â€
Defining for his season was the conversation Helsley, manager Marmol, and other Cardinals officials had entering the season about how to use the right-hander.
Although nominally the Cardinals’ closer for several years now, Helsley had been used aggressively outside of the ninth inning if the opponent had its best hitters up late in a close game. That meant he sometimes pitched in the seventh or eighth inning, and sometimes the seventh and eighth inning. This spring, the decision was made that he would be available to pitch more often, healthier, and more effective if he had the ninth, full stop. All of those things have followed, complete with the close games that demand a reliable, lockdown closer.
More than 70% of the Cardinals have been decided by three runs or fewer.
“Keeps us on our toes out there,†he said.
Helsley (3-3) has appeared in 36 of the Cardinals’ 47 victories. He’s struck out 47 batters in 41 innings and collected a 2.41 ERA in his 40 appearances.
In seventeen of his saves, he’s retired the side in order in the ninth.
The first time this season that he’s pitched more than inning was Friday when he threw two innings against Washington. His 31-for-31 run of saves ended that evening, but he did not allow an earned run and got the win in the 11th inning.
“Availability has been key,†Marmol said. “We have a very small margin for how we win ballgames, and his ability to take the ball as much as he has has led to a lot of our success, and so he’s been a big key for us, for sure.â€