The St. Louis Cardinals have announced their 26-man Opening Day roster ahead of starting their 133rd season in the National League on Thursday afternoon against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The game is set for 3:10 PM CT with live pregame coverage starting on Bally Sports Midwest at 2:30 PM. Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith will host Cardinals Insider from 2-2:30 PM. Cardinals Live! Postgame is currently scheduled to follow the game although the St. Louis Blues pregame coverage is set to start at 6:30 PM.
This year’s Opening Day roster is different from any roster since the start of the 2001 season. This season marks the first time in over two decades in which neither Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, or Adam Wainwright are playing for the team. It’s going to take some to adjust to a Cardinals team that isn’t having at least one of the three players as a part of the roster. Molina, who retired at the end of the 2022 season, will be working as a Special Assistant to President, Baseball Operations.
Brandon Crawford, Ryan Fernandez, Kyle Gibson, Andrew Kittredge, Riley O’Brien and Victor Scott II are the six first-time Cardinals to make the Opening Day roster. Fernandez, Scott II, Michael Siani, Riley O’Brien and Masyn Winn are the five rookies on the squad. Finally, there are 13 players on the roster who the Cardinals developed in their organization.
RHP Sonny Gray, RHP, Kenan Middleton, and LHP Drew Rom are starting the season on the 15-day Injured List. Gray signed as a free agent during the offseason with the expectations that he would be the Opening Day starter. His right hamstring injury means that RHP Miles Mikolas will be the Opening Day starter on Thursday. Outfielders Tommy Edman, Lars Nootbar, and Dylan Carson will be starting on the 10-day IL. Every player on the IL is backdated to March 25 with the exception of Carlson, whose injury is dated to March 26.
With Carlson’s injury, the club selected Victor Scott II’s contract on Wednesday and optioned infielder José FermÃn to the roster of AAA affiliate, Memphis Redbirds. To make room for Scott II on the 40-man roster, the Cardinals placed 1B/OF Jared Young on outright waivers.
The following is the Cardinals 2024 Opening Day active roster and injured list:
PITCHERS (13): Ryan Fernandez-RHP, Giovanny Gallegos-RHP, Kyle Gibson-RHP, Ryan Helsley-RHP, Andrew Kittredge-RHP, Matthew Liberatore-LHP, Lance Lynn-RHP, Steven Matz-LHP, Miles Mikolas-RHP, Riley O’Brien-RHP, Andre Pallante-RHP, JoJo Romero-LHP and Zack Thompson-LHP;
CATCHERS (2): Willson Contreras and Iván Herrera;
INFIELDERS (7): Nolan Arenado, Matt Carpenter, Brandon Crawford, Brendan Donovan, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Gorman and Masyn Winn;
OUTFIELDERS (4): Alec Burleson, Victor Scott II, Michael Siani and Jordan Walker;
INJURED LIST (6): Dylan Carlson-OF, Tommy Edman-OF/INF, Sonny Gray-RHP, Lars Nootbaar-OF, Keynan Middleton-RHP and Drew Rom-LHP.
