Cardinals matched 2 teams from a long bygone baseball era in Opening Day history

Behind a raucous crowd, the St. Louis Cardinals secured an improbable Opening Day victory over the Tampa Bay Rays that featured a historic sixth inning. In what ended up as a 9-7 contest, the two teams combined for a whopping 14 runs in that fateful frame.

As you might expect, it's rare for that sort of offensive outburst to happen in just one inning. But you might not realize quite how rare it was — it was the first time since 1890 that both teams scored six or more runs in the same inning on Opening Day. The Boston Beaneaters and Brooklyn Bridegrooms were the last two teams to accomplish the feat.

For what it's worth, the Beaneaters won that game and finished the season 19 games above .500. Perhaps history will repeat itself for the Cardinals?

Cardinals set the tone for up-and-down 2025 season in Opening Day thriller

While too much happened in that sixth inning to recount here, the overall takeaway is that this Cardinals team, while talented, is going to cause a lot of migraines for fans this year.

The relief trio of Matt Svanson, Justin Bruihl, and Chris Roycroft could only muster one out each while allowing seven hits and one walk. Then, what had been a dormant offense lit up the Rays' middle relievers, including RBIs from Nolan Gorman, Nathan Church, JJ Wetherholt, and Ivan Herrera. Finally, Alec Burleson delivered the dagger.

Wetherholt's day was particularly impressive, as the rookie sensation notched his first career home run in the third inning. Likewise, he, Gorman, and Church all did their sixth-inning damage against left-handed pitchers, a really positive sign for the future of this lineup.

Of course, not every Cardinals game this year will include the offensive heroics to bail out a subpar pitching staff. The rotation is a known weak point on the roster, and if the bullpen continues to falter as it did, the team is going to have to win a lot of shootouts to remain above water.

Still, it's just a one-game sample we're working with. Matthew Liberatore wasn't at the top of his game, allowing nine baserunners in five innings, but he managed to work around the traffic and limit the Rays to just one run. The same could be said of closers Ryne Stanek and JoJo Romero, who evaded escaped their own jams to keep the lead alive.

Even if it required a bit of history to achieve, a 1-0 record is all that matters. Maybe just don't expect the Cardinals to join the Beaneaters or Bridegrooms in any other distinctions this year.