ST. LOUIS -- Near the end of the most forgettable Cardinals season in recent memory, Adam Wainwright can offer fans something to remember for a lifetime. That’s a precious commodity for a last-place club.

Wainwright, 42, is two wins short of joining Bob Gibson and Jesse Haines as the only pitchers in franchise history to reach 200 wins. He has remained stuck at 198 since picking up his third win of the season on June 17. The clock is ticking since Wainwright already has announced he plans to retire following the final game on Oct. 1.

The Cardinals pushed Wainwright’s next start from Sunday in St. Louis to Thursday in Atlanta. At first, the move was viewed as an opportunity to get Wainwright one last start in his native Georgia, but in reality, it was more about how the body of a 40-something pitcher recovers in the days after he throws 93 stressful pitches in a game, as he did on Monday.

“He needed the recovery time,” manager Oliver Marmol said before Saturday’s 7-6 loss to the Pirates. “Yes, it works out to where he pitches in Atlanta, but he needed the extra days. His last outing, he threw the ball well against San Diego, but he said it was in his top five [in terms of] worst he’s felt on a mound in his career.”

Getting Wainwright to the finish line healthy enough and effective enough to reach the milestone now becomes a key task for the Cardinals. He is twice the age of the team’s youngest players, Masyn Winn and Jordan Walker, who hit a go-ahead home run Saturday night before the Cardinals’ bullpen blew another save.

The rotation change puts more of a microscope on each of Wainwright’s remaining starts. He now will have five remaining starts instead of six to get those two wins. Two of those starts likely will come at home. Another is lined up for Baltimore, a tough place to pitch for many years and a tough place to win in 2023.

And one of them will be in Atlanta, about a four-hour drive from Wainwright’s hometown of Brunswick, Ga. He expects as many as 200 family members, friends and fellow church members to make the drive for one last chance to see him pitch against the Braves, the team that selected Wainwright in the first round of the 2000 Draft before trading him as a Minor Leaguer to St. Louis in a five-player deal involving star outfielder J.D. Drew.

The change to Wainwright’s schedule certainly won’t make it any easier for him to reach the milestone. The Braves lead the Majors in batting average, runs, home runs, RBIs and OPS. Wainwright, however, has never been one to duck a challenge. He also has relished his chances to pitch in his home state.

“I’ve loved playing there over the years,” he said. “I have to call it my home crowd, kind of, because so many people travel from home down in South Georgia to see us play. It’s been a point of pride for me for sure to play there, and I’ve pitched well there through my years. Both stadiums I got to pitch in are just amazing, and the new one’s amazing, too. Every time I’ve pitched against that team, it’s always been a great team. They keep putting out great teams, and this one might be the best one I’ve ever seen line up.”

Wainwright said he approached his early starts against the Braves as a chance to show them what a mistake they made to trade him, but almost two decades later, he views it as a last chance to perform in front of people he loves and to compete against people he has been friends with for decades, including Braves manager Brian Snitker, who was Wainwright’s manager at Double-A Greenville in 2003.

“I don’t think anybody’s arguing with the result of the trade,” Wainwright joked. “But J.D. was a great player, one of the best players in baseball again the next year and helped them make the playoffs again and go on a good run. That’s the way baseball is sometimes. You trade some of the future away for now, and look, when you don’t, your fans are going crazy.  

“So, sometimes you have to do that as an organization. Luckily, it worked out, in my mind, for both sides. It worked out longer term for the Cardinals. It certainly worked out for me. I’ve loved pitching here and living here and winning here.”

The season is running out of games, which means fans can start lining up dates to try to catch one of Wainwright’s final starts. If the team keeps him on regular rest in a five-man rotation, he will now pitch Thursday in Atlanta, Sept. 12 in Baltimore, Sept. 18 at home against Milwaukee, and in San Diego on Sept. 23. His final start as a Cardinal figures to come in the three-game series against the Reds at Busch Stadium between Sept. 29 and Oct. 1. The Cardinals easily could manipulate their rotation so Wainwright pitches the last game of the season, perhaps going for the milestone.

Part of the team’s job is to keep Wainwright healthy and rested for those starts. Most of the rest is up to him.

“If I’m healthy, I’m pretty good,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how old I am.”