It has been a slow crawl for Adam Wainwright to get to this point given where he ended the 2022 season, but finally, the longtime St. Louis Cardinals pitcher has made history — and in resounding fashion. Wainwright finally crossed the 200-win mark after he turned back the hands of time with a dominant performance vs. NL Central leader Milwaukee Brewers, shutting them out across seven innings of work while allowing just four hits.

And in doing so, the Cardinals starter achieved a feat that, for a second, will have some fans thinking that he may have something left in the tank after all despite his mileage on the mound throughout his 19 seasons in the big leagues. Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com, Wainwright became the oldest pitcher in Cardinals franchise history to pitch a scoreless outing in at least seven innings of work, at 42 years and 19 days old.

Adam Wainwright beat the previous record held by Jim Kaat over 43 years ago (on June 4, 1980); Kaat, as a 41 year and 210 day-old man, pitched an impressive 10-inning shutout, which is unheard of in today's game. Before Kaat, the record belonged to Grover Alexander, who threw a shutout back on April 12, 1928 while he was 41 years and 46 days old.

Just to put in perspective how lofty a company the Cardinals veteran finds himself in, Kaat and Alexander are both members of the Baseball Hall of Fame; the former was recently inducted via the Veteran's Committee in 2022, while the latter has been part of the Hall of Fame for about 85 years now.

It had been a nightmare season for Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals, as the 42-year old starter has been a shell of his former self all throughout the season. Entering his historic start against the Brewers, Wainwright had pitched to the tune of a 7.95 ERA — a ghastly number that would warrant a demotion if he wasn't a franchise legend.

But for at least one night, and on a game where Wainwright really needed to perform given how time was running out on his quest for 200 wins, he was able to channel his younger self to give the Cardinals a huge win amidst a season of putridity.