What We Got Right — and Wrong — About the Cardinals in Spring Training

Opening Day is here for the St. Louis Cardinals and the first lineup of the year has been released.

Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat shared the Opening Day lineup on X.

JJ Wetherholt leads off in his big league debut and Masyn Winn hits cleanup:

Wetherholt 4
Herrera DH
Burleson 3
Winn 6
Gorman 5
Walker 9
Church 7
Pagés 2
Scott II 8

Liberatore 1
— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) March 26, 2026

The 2026 season is here

Feb 27, 2026; Jupiter, Florida, USA; St. Louis Cardinals designated hitter JJ Wetherholt (77) rounds the bases after hitting a home run against the New York Mets during the fourth inning at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

It was a long offseason full of trades, transactions, and changes in general throughout the organization. With that being said, let's dive into a few things we got right throughout Spring Training, and a few things we got wrong.

On March 20, we predicted the Cardinals' Opening Day lineup. This is what we had:

1. JJ Wetherholt, 2B
2. Masyn Winn, SS
3. Alec Burleson, 1B
4. Iván Herrera, DH
5. Nolan Gorman, 3B
6. Nelson Velázquez, LF
7. Jordan Walker, RF
8. Pedro Pagés, C
9. Victor Scott II, CF

It's not aggressively far off from what the Cardinals are rolling out on Opening Day. JJ Wetherholt at the top of the order makes a lot of sense. Although he's a rookie, there are few in the organization with a knack for getting on base like him. The Cardinals are rolling with Iván Herrera at No. 2. We had him at No. 4 with the thought process being that few have the power potential he does on the team, outside of Nolan Gorman. Burleson makes sense at No. 3. We flipped Winn and Herrera. Arguably, Herrera has much more power potential, so it's a bit surprising to see him at No. 4.

Gorman at No. 5 makes sense. We had Nelson Velázquez on the roster and batting sixth, but he didn't make the team out of camp. This is where things shift. Jordan Walker making the roster was obvious, despite speculation saying otherwise, as he struggled offensively in camp. Church gets the nod in left field to start off the season batting seventh. We had him on the roster, but not in the lineup. The bottom two spots were pretty obvious as well.

Overall, there aren't many changes from what we predicted versus what the reality is. Velázquez not making the club is the biggest thing, although that surprised many. After a long offseason, baseball is finally set to return on Thursday in St. Louis at Busch Stadium.

The fanbase should be excited right now. It's been a tough few years. But the Cardinals ripped the Band-Aid off this offseason and revamped the roster full of young guys. With Opening Day now here, we will get to see if this was the right call.