The St. Louis Cardinals worst fears were confirmed Monday after tests were conducted on pitcher Adam Wainwright. The results revealed what the Cards already knew, that Wainwright had suffered a torn Achilles tendon that would effectively end his season.

The 33-year-old is scheduled to have surgery this week on the completely torn tendon. As reported by USA Today, the usual recovery time for such injuries is 9-12 months. According to the report, Cards general manager john Mozeliak was "optimistic the 6'7" right-hander will be ready for spring training."

"Unfortunate news, but not unexpected after what we saw. Given that it's his left leg, I think we're optimistic it'll be sooner rather than later, but as far as this year goes, he's done."

Wainwright was coming off his second career 20-win season. He also started for the national League in the 2014 All-Star Game. As noted by the USA Today report, Wainwright finished second in the league with 227 innings last season, a category he has led the league twice.

"That's losing a lot of innings and really good performance and leadership. It stinks to see a player of his caliber and character potentially miss a season," Cincinnati Reds manager Bryan Price chimed in.

Wainwright also missed a season back in 2011 after suffering a torn elbow ligament. He tore his Achilles batting Saturday against Milwaukee. Although he came off offseason elbow injury, he didn't appear to show ill effects in his four starts this season. He posted a 1.44 ERA over 25 innings before the injury.

Mozeliak said that one of their two minor league pitchers, Tyler Lyons or Tim Conney, would be called up to replace Wainwright for Thursday's game. For the long-term, the Cardinals may look to Marco Gonzales and Jaime Garcia to take the injured pitcher's spot in the rotation.

"It's not good news today, but it's not the end of the world either. These guys know they can go out and compete and they're looking forward to that challenge," said Mozeliak.