WASHINGTON -- On Tuesday, a slight snafu between the Cardinals, their communications team and the media gave the impression that Miles Mikolas and John Gant had been swapped in the rotation at the last minute. But really, they hadn't been switched at all.
The alignment was premeditated, mapped out with purpose. By starting Mikolas on Wednesday instead of Tuesday, the right-hander took the mound at Nationals Park on two extra days' rest. Slight alterations like this will be common in the weeks to come, as the club rolls out a modified schedule for its stable of young starters, most of which are either approaching career-high workloads or have already eclipsed them.
"There are no hard-and-fast limits for any of our guys," Cardinals general manager Michael Girsch said. "But we're going to try to use the off-days and the September depth that we have to give guys extra rest when we can and line them up how it makes sense."
This week, that meant Mikolas -- who is approaching his career high of 188 innings, set last year in Japan -- gets the extra rest. St. Louis hopes Gant, Austin Gomber and Jack Flaherty all get at least one extra day next week, with the club likely to sprinkle in a sixth spot starter sometime after Adam Wainwright rejoins the rotation on Monday. The Cardinals' goal is that Flaherty's start on Saturday in Detroit is his last one on normal rest, and that Gant, Gomber and Mikolas make as few on normal rest going forward as possible.
St. Louis has the resources to do so. The Cardinals have six pitchers in the bullpen who have started this season, and they could insert Michael Wacha into that mix after he returns, as well. That gives them the flexibility to either tab Tyson Ross, Luke Weaver or Daniel Poncedeleon for a spot start or use a combination of those arms for a bullpen day.
Pushing everyone back also slots Mikolas and Flaherty in to potentially pitch in the final series of the regular season, which is against the National League Central-leading Cubs.
"It's a balancing act of rest, who we're playing and looking at the total schedule and making sure we're putting our best foot forward," manager Mike Shildt said.
Complicating the situation is that the Cardinals need to balance relying on their young pitchers -- especially Flaherty, who emerged as an NL Rookie of the Year Award candidate during the club's impressive run under Shildt -- to complete their second-half surge and be in a position to pitch them in the postseason, if they make it.
Flaherty, 22, is currently 10 innings away from his career high. (When asked recently how his body feels, Flaherty said, "Unbelievable.") Gomber, 24, is 20 innings short. Gant surpassed his on Tuesday. Mikolas is older (30), but he's also coming from a different layout in Japan, where starters typically pitch once a week and go deeper into games.
"I hope we have a problem on Oct. 20 [where] we're trying to figure out how many more innings we have left for these guys," Girsch said. "Nobody is in crazy uncharted territory. We're not going to take big risks with any of these young guys, but we don't think we're even close to that point yet."
Major League teams typically operate under the general assumption that pushing young starters becomes dangerous after a 25-30-inning jump from the previous year. But Girsch "will be the first to admit," he said, that it's not exact science. Internally, the Cardinals try to separate low-stress innings from high-stress innings and factor in prior rest, among other factors, when analyzing pitchers' workload.
"There is," Girsch said, "no perfect way to do it."
Worth noting
• Wacha (left oblique strain) is scheduled to resume rehab with Triple-A Memphis on Friday, when he'll start the Redbirds' playoff game against Oklahoma City. Wacha's assignment had been halted after he became fatigued in his third outing on Aug. 28. He's been on the disabled list since June 21.
• Third-base coach Jose Oquendo was not with the Cardinals for Wednesday's win in Washington. He was excused to attend his daughter's graduation from Fort Leonard Wood, a U.S. Army academy in Missouri.