Cardinals Next Big Test Comes in 4-Game Series vs. Padres

The St. Louis Cardinals have been one of the hottest teams in baseball over the last week, but things cooled down a bit on Wednesday afternoon.

St. Louis faced off against the Milwaukee Brewers and ran into a buzz saw. The Brewers put up four runs in the first inning on Wednesday and never looked back afterward. Brandon Sproat pitched four shutout one-hit innings against the Cardinals and Andrew Vaughn homered. It just wasn't the Cardinals' day, but that's going to happen over the course of a 162-game season.

Andre Pallante allowed five earned runs in the contest and St. Louis had just four hits across the entire game. It was certainly a different look than the previous few games. St. Louis entered Wednesday's series finale against the Brewers winners of seven of their last eight games.

The Cardinals Will Look To Bounce Back On Thursday Night

Apr 25, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Matthew Liberatore (32) pitches against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

One of the very best parts about baseball is the fact that you never have to wait long to try to get back on track. St. Louis struggled on Wednesday, but it can get right back on track on Thursday night as it begins a four-game series against the San Diego Padres.

It's going to be a great series to gauge where the Cardinals really are. St. Louis is 21-15 on the season. The Padres are just ahead of them at 22-15. St. Louis impressed the baseball world by taking two out of three games against the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier in the week. If it can follow up with another series win over the Padres, who are in second place in the National League West, that would just be another sign that this team is for real.

St. Louis also has its top hurlers going in the series. The Cardinals will roll with Matthew Liberatore in Game 1, Michael McGreevy in Game 2, Dustin May in Game 3 and then finish the series off with Kyle Leahy on the bump. The Padres will respond with Michael King in Game 1, Griffin Canning in Game 2, Randy Vásquez in Game 3 and the club hasn't announced a starter for Game 4 yet.

The young Cardinals team has been fun and has bounced back any time there has been any adversity, not to say one loss is adversity but in general. St. Louis has another golden opportunity in front of them to show the baseball world what it can do.

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