St. Louis Cardinals 2025 Season Preview

The St. Louis Cardinals had a bit of a bounce-back season in 2024. They won 83 games after finishing under .500 in 2023. That marked the first time in a full season the Cardinals failed to get 81 wins since 2007. In MLB news, this is a proud franchise that its fans love, and not making the playoffs for consecutive seasons following being in them for four in a row doesn’t sit well with anyone.

2025 St. Louis Cardinals Win Total Projection & World Series Odds

It will be interesting to see where MLB experts picks go with this win projection number. It sits at 75½ wins and if you are making MLB playoff predictions that have the Cardinals making the postseason, it is a number to grab. When it comes to World Series odds, they are long and not strong. St. Louis sits at +10000 and that would tell those making MLB picks it could be a long season. Then again, these are the Cardinals, and anything is possible.

2025 St. Louis Cardinals Projected Starting Lineup

Cardinals’ lineup per MLB.com:

• Lars Nootbaar, LF
• Willson Contreras, 1B
• Brendan Donovan, 2B
• Nolan Arenado, 3B
• Alec Burleson, DH
• Ivan Herrera, C
• Jordan Walker, RF
• Victor Scott II, CF
• Masyn Winn, SS

Lineup Strengths and Weaknesses

Arenado remains a Cardinal. The question is, how long? He’s getting up there in years, has a big contract and would be an asset to a contender looking for a bat and stellar player at the hot corner. Nothing was able to be worked out in the offseason, but when making MLB predictions about possible trades, expect Arenado to be mentioned.

One thing about this Cardinal lineup is that for a team usually full of familiar names, this is no longer the case. Contreras will be at first base because Paul Goldschmidt left for the Yankees, and he carries some name cred, but the rest of the players are hopefully on their way up for manager Oliver Marmol.

Burleson had 21 home runs in 2025 and, with any luck will continue to grow into his role as DH. When looking for another player the Cardinals need for pop, count on Ivan Herrera. He may not be the defensive force Pedro Pages is but he needs to get at-bats aplenty.

For the Cardinals to be among MLB teams to contend for the postseason, a lot has to happen. Young players must get better, and the veterans have to prove they are not on the downside of their MLB careers.

St. Louis Cardinals Projected Starting Rotation

1. RHP Sonny Gray, RHP
2. RHP Erick Fedde, RHP
3. RHP Ander Pallante, RHP
4. RHP Miles Mikolas, LHP
5. LHP Matthew Liberatore, LHP
6. LHP Steven Matz, LHP

Gray is 35 and in the second season with St. Louis, which is the fifth team in his career. People have high regard for him but he always seems to be moving from team to team. Hard to figure. He is a difficult pitcher for opponents to hit when it comes to MLB matchups and St. Louis needs him to win at least the 13 games he did in 2024.

Mikolas had a rough season in 2024. His ERA was 5.35 and he gave up 194 hits in 171 innings. Anyone making MLB playoff predictions has to hope he improves or St. Louis gets more arms to depend less on Mikolas.

Look for Matz to bounce back and forth between the bullpen and starting rotation. The goal is for him to start in the pen, move to the rotation and then back to the bullpen depending on how MLB injuries impact the staff.

Projected Bullpen

• RHP Ryan Helsley
• RHP Ryan Fernandez
• LHP JoJo Romero
• RHP Phil Maton
• LHP John King
• RHP Kyle Leahy
• RHP Chris Roycroft
• LHP Matz

The gem of gems in the pitching stable is Helsley. He had 49 saves and a 2.04 ERA on a team that won 83 games. He also won seven games. Helsley struck out 79 in 66.1 innings.

The rest of the relievers will be counted upon to find a way to get the ball to Helsley with a lead. The Cardinals’ season hinges upon that.

St. Louis Cardinals Schedule and Key Matchups

The Cardinals are coming off a second-place finish in the NL Central. That was far better than the prior season. They hope to continue a positive trend, but it will be challenging.

The season opens with a five-game homestand against the Twins and anemic Angels. There is a testing April run from the 11th through 26th with series against the Phillies, Astros, Mets, Braves, and Brewers. If you want to know what St. Louis is about, you should have a great picture by the end of the first full month.

May opens with more Mets and then Paul Skenes and the Bucs come to St. Louis. Three of the four series at the end of this month are against AL teams.

A Show-Me Series starts June against the Royals before the Dodgers come to town for three games. The Blue Jays follow to finish the homestand.

A key divisional homestand for the NL Central team is at the end of the month when the Reds and arch-rival Cubs are in St. Louis for seven games.

Fourteen of the 24 games in July are at home, and there is the All-Star break to try and refresh. August opens with a doozy of a road trip against the Padres and Dodgers with a homestand against the Cubs, Rockies and Yankees to follow.

There is a nine-game stretch against NL Central rivals in September before closing the season at San Francisco and the Cubs. This team will be tested throughout and needs everyone to be on their game for it to be better than 2024.