3 likes, concerns, and things to monitor from Cardinals' undefeated start to season

The St. Louis Cardinals opened the 2025 season with a bang, winning all three games of the opening series against the Minnesota Twins. With a 3-0 record, the Cardinals sit in first place in the division and are one of only four remaining undefeated teams in the majors.

Opening Day had a delayed start, but over 47,000 fans got to see the Cardinals start the series in strong fashion, using their new-look lineup and timely hitting to lead them to a 5-3 win to begin the year. After a Friday off day, the team went back to work on Saturday and totaled 10 hits to back a strong start from Erick Fedde for a 5-1 victory. With the series won, the Cardinals switched up the lineup, and their bench pieces provided a huge spark in the 9-2 win that clinched the sweep.

For a team that faced numerous questions behind how competitive they would be in a weak division and what type of fan support they would receive this year, the opening weekend of the 2025 season could not have gone much better for the Cardinals. The 24th-ranked team in the opening power rankings from MLB.com had plenty to like, but there are other storylines that were buried behind the high-powered offense.

What to like: Offensive approach, pitching, defense, Victor Scott II

New lineup and hitting coach paying off

Manager Oli Marmol made the decision to put his more patient hitters at the top of the order while moving Masyn Winn down to the ninth spot. The early returns have been outstanding since Lars Nootbaar and Brendan Donovan have hit first and third, respectively. In the season opener, Nootbaar worked a six-pitch at-bat for a single in his first plate appearance of the year and was driven in by Donovan two hitters later. In his next at-bat, Nootbaar gave the team their first homer of the year on a two-strike pitch off of starter Pablo Lopez. In the season's first three games, Noot has already been on base seven times.

In a noticeable change in offensive approach, hitting coach Brant Brown has been teaching his hitters that there is a time and place to sell out for an extra-base hit but there are other opportunities to shorten up and put the ball in play or work a deep count. So far, the Cardinals have walked 12 times and struck out only 19, which is second fewest in the major leagues and fewest in the National League. Last season, the Cardinals struggled mightily with runners in scoring position, hitting .229 with 27 homers in those scenarios. The new approach has paid off early, with the team hitting .323 with three homers and 17 RBI in 31 at-bats with RISP.

Pitching sets the tone

The Cardinals starting rotation was a constant topic over the offseason that was not settled until the last day of Spring Training. After initially expecting some rotation turnover to then announcing a potential six-man rotation, the organization kept fans guessing for who would be starting in the 2025 season. Sonny Gray was the Opening Day starter despite velocity and home run concerns, Erick Fedde worked as the number two after he was mentioned as an attractive trade candidate, and Andre Pallante grabbed the third spot even though his job was not as safe as initially expected coming into camp. Each of the three arms pitched well in their season debuts, with Gray and Pallante throwing five solid innings and Fedde notching the team's first quality start with six innings of two-hit ball.

Backing up the starters was a smattering of relievers, with every pitcher in the bullpen making an appearance within the team's three games. The newest (and only) major league signing appears to be Marmol's front-runner for the setup role, as he was the first one to get a crack at setting up closer Ryan Helsley in game one, and Maton is the only reliever to pitch in more than one game so far. It is of note that Ryan Fernandez was unavailable for the opener due to a tight hip, but he did make his season debut in the next game. Steven Matz had a great debut, relieving Pallante with four shutout innings in Sunday's 9-2 victory, and the lefty only allowed one runner to reach base. Helsley was electric in his first attempt at an encore of his record-setting 2024 season, as he struck out three in his first save of the year.

Defense holds strong without giving up offense

With Michael Siani making the Opening Day roster, it was clear that he was going to be a late-game defensive replacement with the hope that his starts would be limited due to his tepid offense. This has held true so far, with Siani making two appearances so far but both coming at the end of games. Each time, the Gold Glove-caliber outfielder made nice plays to keep the games under control.

Sunday's lineup featured bench players for the first time, and the result was actually more offense than the starters provided in the first two games. The lineup that included Pedro Pages and Nolan Gorman for the first time knocked in nine runs on 10 hits with five walks and only four strikeouts. Pages, Gorman, and Victor Scott II all hit homers in the blowout win. Pages has been seen as the better defensive catcher, but the backup was a triple short of the cycle in his first start.

So far, the defense has been locked in with Nolan Arenado back to his elite-level glove work at third and Siani providing a safety net late in games. Donovan and Gorman have also made great plays at second base with shortstop Masyn Winn looking good at short. New first baseman Willson Contreras seems to be settling in just fine.

Victor Scott II appears fully ready for the big leagues

The most exciting player throughout all of Spring Training truly won the starting spot with his performance in Jupiter. After a tough debut last year, it was fair to be concerned if he could keep the momentum going when the team headed north, but he has been able to do just that. Scott has been on base three times and has already stolen three bases and scored two runs. On Sunday, he had the biggest swing of the game, a three-run home run to give the Cardinals a 3-1 lead and get the offense started. His outs have also been hard, and he also had a hit stolen from him due to a one-hop line drive to right field turning into a fielder's choice at second base. Beyond the offense, Scott has shone in the outfield as well. His elite speed has helped him make two phenomenal plays in the gaps.

Of minor concern: Winn and Contreras, infield depth, attendance decline

Winn and Contreras are hitless through three games

The Cardinals offense has been productive thus far, and that is without any contribution from two of the players they expected the most from. Willson Contreras packed on the muscle and hit the ball with power in Spring Training as he looked to provide value to the team for the full season as a first baseman. Masyn Winn, fresh out of the leadoff spot, wanted to improve on his power and patience at the plate after a productive rookie season. However, each of these two is hitless thus far into the season, and, more concerning, they have combined for 10 of the team's 19 strikeouts.

I am less concerned about Contreras than Winn, as the former catcher is an established offensive force and had a phenomenal spring. The shortstop, however, struggled mightily in Jupiter, balancing between his desire for more power and exercising plate discipline. Interestingly, Winn hit from the leadoff spot for the exhibition season, and that could have just been to get him as many at-bats as possible. Part of my bold predictions for the 2025 season was that Winn would be a 20-homer and 20-stolen base threat, so I have plenty of faith in the youngster's skill.

Infield depth is still a question mark

When Nolan Gorman drew his first start of the year, he slotted in at second base, which moved utility man Brendan Donovan to left, and Jordan Walker got the day off. This left the available bench as Ivan Herrera, Michael Siani, and Luken Baker. When put that way, it shows how valuable someone like Donovan is and how much faith the team has in his ability to play anywhere on the diamond. If Winn gets hurt or needs a day off, the thought is that Donovan would slide over to short. After the team opted to forgo the services of Jose Fermin and Jose Barrero, the infield depth lies solely in the presence of Donovan. Gorman will be able to play third as well as second, but his spot in the lineup will then shorten the defensive options off the bench.

After an Opening Day sellout, the attendance for the next two games declined swiftly

Depending on what social media site and what day of the week it was, fans constantly threatened to not show up to as many games this season and boo ownership at games they did attend. Those looked to be empty threats on Opening Day, and I was lucky enough to experience the ambiance firsthand. Even with the constant rain, the pregame party outside of Busch Stadium had a huge crowd, and the streets were buzzing with excitement. Once inside, the place was packed after an announced rain delay of over an hour and a half. The fans stuck around to see the world-famous Clydesdales and former and current players being introduced on the back of Ford pickup trucks. With the standing-room-only ticket, I had a difficult time finding packs of open seats among the 47,395 paid fans for the first game of the year.

The excitement from the opening day victory was hopefully enough to get fans to come out to Busch, but game two was only viewed by 30,712 spectators. The Cardinals won again in game two but predicted weather may have hindered more fans to come watch the game in person. For the series finale, there was an announced crowd of 26,923. The organization failed to surpass three million fans for the first time since 2003, and this was not a good start as they look to get back to that number.

Keep an eye on: Gorman's presence, catching split, bullpen usage

Nolan Gorman made the most of his one start

Nolan Gorman looked to move past a difficult 2024 season and show the season prior was what the team should expect. The intriguing power potential from a 24-year-old lefty-hitting second baseman was too good to pass up, and the Cardinals appeared to promise an extended runway for Gorman this season. This started to get more confusing during the spring when Arenado ended up sticking with the Cardinals but Gorman was still expected to see everyday reps at second with Donovan moving to left.

However, Victor Scott's sizzling spring forced Marmol's hand, and the center fielder did everything possible to earn a starting spot. With that move and the need to keep Donovan in the everyday lineup, the only remaining spot for Gorman was designated hitter. Before the first lineup of the year was used, it did not seem clear which lefty would get the starting spot because, although Burly performed well in Florida, there was always that hanging thought of the playing-time promise to Gorman. For the first two games of the season, though, Burleson was the starting DH and stayed in the lineup in game three as the first baseman. Contreras took the day off in the field and slotted in at DH, while Gorman got his first start at second, moving Donovan to left.

Needing to post a big day after Burleson had a good start to the year, Gorman delivered on Sunday, going three for four with his first homer of the year. The clearest way for the lefty power hitter to get regular playing time is through an injury to the outfield since Donovan would head out to the grass. Jordan Walker received Sunday off in what could have been a scheduled off day two games into the year or a response to Walker getting hit on the hand in the game prior. If Gorman were to get called into regular infield duty, the Cardinals would have to call up another utility infielder to provide some defensive security off the bench.

The catching competition continues

The two catching options for the Cardinals appeared to be exact opposites of each other, with Ivan Herrera providing the offense and Pedro Pages being the defensive specialist backing him up. Herrera was a top hitter for the team in 2024, and his offensive potential has been on display since he arrived to camp in February. The backstop is hitting .571 with two doubles in two games so far this year. The issue with Herrera was in his inability to throw runners out, which created more opportunity for Pages to play despite minimal offense. Herrera understood this and spent the offseason training at Driveline to refine his throwing mechanics and gain arm strength. He has been tested twice thus far and failed to throw out either runner, although he appeared to throw out the runner at second, but replay could not overturn the seemingly incorrect decision.

Having Pages available to fill in behind the dish is a benefit to the Cardinals and any offense they receive from the 25-year-old would be the cherry on top. Pages, though, wants to prove his value is more than as a glove-first backup and made a loud first impression on the 2025 season. In his first start, the catcher went three for four, falling a triple short of the cycle.

Just to add more fun to the conversation, catching prospect Jimmy Crooks hit a homer at Memphis in the Redbirds' first game of the year. The lefty hitter was tabbed as the team's fourth-best prospect and narrowly missed MLB.com's top-100 list. Behind Crooks are the organization's seventh- and eighth-best prospects, who are both catchers as well. Leonardo Bernal and Rainiel Rodriguez add to the team's prospect depth behind the plate.

Who will fill what roles in the bullpen?

After playing in 51 one-run games in 2024, the Cardinals have not had to deal with that tight game stress so far in 2025, thanks to Nolan Arenado's dramatic homer on Opening Day. Before that longball, though, Marmol went to his bullpen early, pulling Sonny Gray after five innings. The manager went with Kyle Leahy, John King, Chris Roycroft, and Phil Maton before closer Ryan Helsley took the ball in the ninth. JoJo Romero and Ryan Fernandez held high-leverage roles last year and appeared primed to slot right in with Maton this season. Fernandez was unavailable in the opener but both he and Romero made a scoreless debut on Saturday before Maton sealed the victory.

Steven Matz was the only reliever to take the ball on Sunday, successfully filling his long relief role out of the bullpen. In four innings, Matz allowed one hit and struck out two on the way to his first save of the year. If and when the lefty jumps into the rotation in April, the bulk innings role will be open, and Leahy may be the first to get that opportunity. The strength of the team last season was in the relief corps, and if they can maintain their success and the offense and rotation continue to play well, 2025 could be an exciting year in St. Louis.