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A St. Louis Cardinals Fan Community

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St. Louis Cardinals 2026 Spring Training Observations, Ramon Urias

Introduction As part of my 6 days in Jupiter, I collected lots of observations and I’ve given to breaking them down and passing them along in manageable (ie. readable) chunks. I passed along some nuggets in game recaps if they were short and relevant to pre-, in- or post-game happenings. Last week, I published an […]

Deniel Ortiz is your #18 St. Louis Cardinals prospect

I am genuinely kind of surprised Ortiz is this low and it’s not necessarily because I disagree with his ranking so much as he certainly felt like a prospect that would be ranked a lot higher based upon the last three top 20s I’ve run. Speaking for myself, I think what hurts him is that […]

Who Should Be the St. Louis Cardinals 4th & 5th Starters?

As Spring Training rolls on, the St. Louis Cardinals roster is starting to come into focus, but there’s still no obvious choice for what the back of the rotation will look like. Who do you think should be the 5th starter? The same question could be asked about who the 4th starter will be, too. […]

St. Louis Cardinals vs Washington Nationals Game Discussion

The St. Louis Cardinals will travel to the Spring Training home of the Washington Nationals on Wednesday, March 11. According to MLB.com, Dustin May will get another start for the Cardinals while Cade Cavalli will take the mound for the Nationals. Here’s the starting lineup according to the St. Louis Cardinals website:

St. Louis Cardinals vs New York Mets Game Discussion

The St. Louis Cardinals are traveling to the New York Mets Spring Training home at Clover Park. According to MLB.com, the Cardinals will have Jared Shuster take the mound while the New York Mets are expected to start David Peterson. The game today will not be televised.

My (Somewhat) Bold Offseason Predictions – 2026 edition (revisited)

With only a couple of weeks remaining in spring training, I think it’s time we revisit how we did with our predictions from the end of October. https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/st-louis-cardinals-sabermetrics-analysis/65354/somewhat-bold-offseason-predictions-2026-edition#comments If you were one of the participants who included your predictions, here is a quick link to help you find them! Like last year, this is a […]

The Viva El Birdos Podcast: Episode 55 – Interview with Ben Clemens

Old friend, formerly of VEB, Ben Clemens of FanGraphs, stopped by to talk some ball! Ben covered several topics including: his VEB lineage and career arc, Ivan Herrera dealing with lower body injuries again, Josh Baez and where would make the most sense to begin the season, Dustin May looking like he’s returning to form, […]

Yairo Padilla is your #17 St. Louis Cardinals prospect

It’s kind of unfortunate for Yairo Padilla that he came up at the same time as Rainiel Rodriguez. Some sites had him as the better prospect entering 2025. And then, well, 2025 happened. I think the perception of Padilla was certainly negatively affected by Rodriguez’s rise, even though that doesn’t really make sense, just because […]

MLB

Comparing the Cardinals: Are we seeing the middle infield of the future?

Week 1: Starting Pitching Week 2: Catchers Week 3: Corner Infield This could be a long article made short with the simple word: yes. I truly believe we are seeing the middle infield that will be standing at Busch Stadium for the foreseeable future. But Doc probably would not be happy if my write up […]

St. Louis Cardinals vs New York Mets Game Discussion

Kyle Leahy will have another opportunity to prove to the St. Louis Cardinals that he has what it takes to be a starter as he’ll be on the mound to do battle with the New York Mets at Roger Dean Stadium. According to MLB.com, Kodai Senga will make the Spring Training start for the Mets. […]

The Cardinals’ Hidden Advantage: A Lineup Built for Career Years

The age of the Cardinals position player core could be the team’s secret weapon in 2026. While the roster is young, this isn’t a team built around 20- and 21-year-olds that are expected to contribute immediately. The projected starters on the position player side of things are all either in their prime or about to […]

St. Louis Cardinals vs Baltimore Orioles Game Discussion

The St. Louis Cardinals who didn’t depart for the World Baseball Classic will take the field today starting at 12:05pm central against the Baltimore Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium. According to MLB.com, Michael McGreevy will start the game for the Cardinals while it’s Chris Bassitt on the mound for the Orioles. The St. Louis Cardinals […]

St. Louis Cardinals Spring Training Update from the Jupiter Complex

We got into Jupiter Wednesday 2/25 and stayed through Monday 3/2. Here is a rundown of various discoveries and observations outside of the game reports. This will be a fair amount of surface level observations. I will follow up with a couple more in-depth articles where it appears more attention is deserving. Ask questions, and […]

St. Louis Cardinals vs Pittsburgh Pirates Game Discussion

As many players have departed for the World Baseball Classic, the remaining St. Louis Cardinals will continue their Spring Training schedule by taking on the Pittsburgh Pirates in LECOM Park today. According to MLB.com, Dustin May will get the start for St. Louis while Mitch Keller takes the mound for Pittsburgh. The Cardinals Spring Training […]

Ixan Henderson is your #16 St. Louis Cardinals prospect

After being relatively close to winning for the last few votes, Ixan Henderson won the vote for the 16th prospect pretty handily. Both polls I ran in fact weren’t really contests at all. I am been pretty vocal in wondering if Henderson would be higher if not for his current injury scare. I don’t think […]

Who’s Been Most Impressive in St. Louis Cardinals Spring Training So Far?

While there is still a relatively small sample size, we’ve played enough Spring Training games to begin to get an idea of what players are impressing and which ones aren’t. In my attempt to be a more positive person (work in progress), I’ll ask the question who has been the most impressive player during St. […]

St. Louis Cardinals vs Nicaragua Game Discussion

The St. Louis Cardinals continue their Spring Training schedule with an international game versus Nicaragua. According to MLB.com, Matthew Liberatore will start for St. Louis. The St. Louis Cardinals game preview shows that Dilmer Mejia will pitch for Nicaragua. If you’re a MLB.tv subscriber, you can listen to the game here. Here’s the lineup the […]

How could the St Louis Cardinals surprise fans in 2026?

I ask you, dear VEB’r, what could the Cardinals do to surprise the average fan? They have already been surprised with an Oliver Marmol extension, under a new President of Baseball Ops. Chaim Bloom had already worked with Marmol during the Mozeliak transitional years, and you can tell there is an affinity at least between […]

How Former St. Louis Cardinals are Performing for their New Teams

It’s no secret that the St. Louis Cardinals were one of the most active teams during the offseason unloading multiple veterans and their contracts, but have you checked in on how these former Cardinals players are performing for their new teams? Let’s catch up with how they’re doing in their new uniforms. Let’s be clear […]

MLB

Where Will Cardinals Land in NL Central in 2026?

If you’re ready to analyze performance and results, so am I. The first 10 games of Spring Training are a really bad barometer for that, and moreso an exercise in futility. So, until we can really dig into the fun stuff, I figured it would be a good time to share some thoughts on how […]