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A pregame ceremony that introduces the 2026 St. Louis Cardinals, honors the club’s Hall of Famers and celebrates the great tradition of Opening Day in St. Louis will highlight the annual return of baseball at Busch Stadium on Thursday, March 26. The Cardinals will open the 2026 season at Busch Stadium against the Tampa Bay Rays at 3:15 PM CT. Fans are encouraged to arrive early in order to enjoy all the pregame ceremonies. An Opening Day timeline and schedule information can be found below and at cardinals.com/OpeningDay to help fans enjoy the unofficial holiday that is #OpeningDaySTL:
Pregame Schedule
10:30 AM – 1:00 PM Official Opening Day Pep Rally at Ballpark Village: Join Fredbird, Team Fredbird, DJ Todd Thomas, Cardinals organist Dwayne Hilton, Cardinals Alumni, and the Red & Black Brass Band at the Busch II Infield Stage in the Together Credit Union Plaza for the Cardinals Opening Day Pep Rally. This event is free for all fans to attend and includes prizes and ticket giveaways to Opening Day and other 2026 games.
12:00 PM Busch Stadium Gates Open
2026 Cardinals Magnet Schedule: All fans, ages 21 and older, will receive a magnet featuring the 2026 Cardinals schedule, compliments of Budweiser.Ford Plaza will have Team Fredbird playing music and games until 2:20 PM.
The Alex Rich Band and DJ Deks will be performing and gearing fans for the start of pregame ceremonies with happy hour pricing in Budweiser Terrace and at the Crown Bar, respectively, until 2:20 PM.
12:00 – 12:55 PM Cardinals batting practice (subject to change)
12:55 – 1:50 PM Rays batting practice (subject to change)
2:30 PM Pregame ceremonies begin with an appearance by the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales
Introduction of Fredbird & Team Fredbird
Recognition of Chairman & CEO, Bill DeWitt Jr.; President, Bill DeWitt III; and President of Baseball Operations, Chaim Bloom
Introduction of National Baseball & Cardinals Hall of Famers via 2026 Ford Mustang convertible motorcade
Introduction of the 2026 St. Louis Cardinals via Ford F-150 truck motorcade
Introduction of the Tampa Bay Rays
3:05 PM National Anthem performance by the Red & Black Brass Band with flag presentation by the Ft. Leonard Wood service members.
Ceremonial First Pitch by 2006 World Series MVP David Eckstein, 2006 World Series Champion Gary Bennett, and 1996 National League Central Champions Brian Jordan & Tom Pagnozzi
3:15 PM First Pitch by Cardinals Opening Day starting pitcher Matthew Liberatore
Forecasted Weather
Sunny, along with a few afternoon clouds. High 93° F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 MPH.Projected Opening Day Roster
Pitchers (13): Justin Bruihl, Kyle Leahy, Matthew Liberatore, Dustin May, Michael McGreevy, Riley O’Brien, Andre Pallante, Matt Pushard, JoJo Romero, Chris Roycroft, George Soriano, Ryne Stanek, Matt SvansonCatchers (3): Iván Herrera, Pedro Pagés, Yohel Pozo
Infielders (7): Alec Burleson, José Fermín, Nolan Gorman, Thomas Saggese, Ramón Urías, JJ Wetherholt, Masyn Winn
Outfielders (3): Nathan Church, Victor Scott II, Jordan Walker
Injured List (1): Lars Nootbaar-OF
Red Jackets
The following National Baseball Hall of Famers & Cardinals Hall of Famers are expected to take part in Opening Day pregame ceremonies (subject to change):National Baseball Hall of Famers: Tony La Russa, Scott Rolen, Ted Simmons, & Ozzie Smith
Cardinals Hall of Famers: Vince Coleman, Al Hrabosky, Jason Isringhausen, Ray Lankford, Willie McGee, Mark McGwire, Édgar Renteria, & John Tudor
Approximately 40 Cardinals Alumni will return to attend Opening Day at Busch Stadium.
Television Coverage – Game Channels Will Be Announced on Opening Day
The Cardinals Live pregame show presented by Toyota starts at 2:00 PM and will originate inside Busch Stadium on Opening Day, hosted by Dani Wexelman alongside analyst Mark Sweeney. Coverage of the Cardinals’ pregame ceremonies and player introductions will start at 2:30 PM.Calling the Cardinals’ Opening Day matchup versus the Rays will be play-by-play announcer Chip Caray and analyst Brad Thompson with Jim Hayes reporting from around Busch Stadium. The Cardinals Live postgame show presented by CarShield will follow after the final out.
Major League Baseball will produce and distribute all in-market Cardinal games for the 2026 season. Fans located in the Cardinals’ television footprint will be able to watch games on their preferred traditional cable, satellite, and streaming TV providers with no additional subscription needed. Specific game channels for each provider will be announced on the morning of Opening Day at approximately 8AM, although fans can expect to find the Cardinals game channel in the same neighborhood as its previous RSN channel.
Fans located within the Cardinals’ TV territory without traditional cable or satellite service will have the option to watch games on their smart TV, smartphone or other connected device with no blackout restrictions on Cardinals.TV presented by bet365. The direct-to-consumer streaming platform accessible from the MLB app or MLB.com can be purchased for $99.99 for the full season or $19.99/month at cardinals.com/tv.
Visit cardinals.com/watch for more information on all the ways to watch Cardinals baseball in 2026.
Radio Coverage
Fans can tune into KMOX 104.1 FM, 1120 AM or one of the other 168 stations in the Cardinals Radio Network to hear John Rooney, Ricky Horton, and Mike Claiborne call the game. The Ameren Total Access Show starts at 1:35 PM and will include live coverage of the pregame ceremonies inside Busch Stadium.Fans can tune in locally to WIJR 880 AM “La Tremenda”, or one of the other nine stations in the club’s Cardinals Spanish Radio Network to hear Spanish broadcasters Polo Ascencio and Bengie Molina call the game as well. Pregame coverage starts at 2:10 PM and will include live coverage of the pregame ceremonies.
So will it be Nootbaar to the 60 day IL, or a Prieto dfa? I wonder why they are waiting to last minute. Maybe a small trade?
And by the way everyone.
Even though the Redbirds do not play on Friday this day still has significance. It will be the first CCFF of the 2026 campaign. For the uninformed that’s Cardinals Catfish Fiddlers Friday!
As Pugs will tell you…..”Yum Yum!”…..
r/Esteemed Rat
Keeping Nelson Vazquez off the 26 man for Fermin still has me in shock! There are at least 4-5 guys I’d risk losing off the 40 man over screwing him over and diminishing any sliver of hope us fans had.
Hell, trade Fermin, Prieto or Raquet for a DSL guy……
1st horrible move by Bloom!
I am just happy to say that at 6:05 am on opening day, I am finally sure the game will be on my tv. Looking forward to the season with interest-and hope. Lots of hope. I know hope isn’t a plan. But it’s all I have. The last few seasons I haven’t had either.
Oli is very consistent in that he would rather eat broken glass than to have two hitters from the same side of the plate hit back to back in the lineup.
Opening Day Lineup is out for the Cardinals and JJ will see the first pitch of the season for the young squad. No pressure kid. pic.twitter.com/wGq3NSELSZ
— Redbird Farmhands (@RedbirdFarmhand) March 26, 2026
I’m curious about the decision to have Herrera 2 and Winn 4 rather than vice versa. More protection for Wetherholt?
Happy opening day!
Winn batting 4th?
Looking at the lineup and trying to maximize ar bats for Herrera and Burleson plus looking at the rest of the lineup – outside of Gorman no one else qualifies…
Winn At clean up?? Here is my order for that group.
Winn
Wetherholt
Herrera
Burleson
Gorman
Walker
Church
Pages
ScottAt least we agree on the bottom third.😀
Happy Opening Day! Don’t lose it – we want beer this year!!
I don’t understand gifting Walker RF. He didn’t even earn a roster spot (imo) much less a starting job.
I guess we’ll see how he’s doing in 4-6 weeks – maybe he’ll get it together and become the player we all hoped he’d be.
I’ve no problem with Walker for the next month. He was barreling the ball better late in camp, and spring training is about development, not stats. There’s some chance the process has gotten him to a point where he will be competitive. And the alternatives…make sure Baez and Velazquez can handle AAA before MLB. Velazquez can’t be optioned back down if he still needs to work on things. Walker can.
On a side note…..
Skenes didn’t make it out of the first inning today at Shea Stadium. The Mets got him for five runs in the last of the 1st.
And I’ll be watching the first few minutes of the Red Sox and Reds game from Crosley Field today. Then I’ll flip it over to Sportsmans Park for the Rays and Cardinals.
About time to light up the first 7×50 Palma Real Presidente cigar of the 2026 season!
Happy Days are here again!
r/Esteemed Rat
Winn is their poster boy now. Look he’s at cleanup!
Marketing department is smiling, but Winn needs a bigger commission! Lol, maybe he has a point.Taking a gander at today’s Opening Day out-of-town scoreboard:
The Mets now lead the Pirates 11-5 at Shea Stadium in the 7th inning.
The Brewers are up on the WhiteSox 8-1 now in the 5th at County Stadium.
And the Nationals are currently in front of the Cubs 7-3 in 5th at Wrigley.
Reds first pitch is 15 minutes away.
Cards first pitch is 20 minutes away.
My first cigar of the 2026 season is now 10 minutes away.
My goodness Walker looked pretty rough on that fly into the corner. At least he caught it to end the top of the first …
Who was it that said that marmol wasnt stupid enough to bat weatherholt leadoff. I guess they were wrong.
Weathdrholt leading off is exactly why i said marmol should have been fired. Even if he gets a hit every at bat after today, i still think its a bad move.
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