St. Louis Cardinals announce Matthew Liberatore as their Opening Day starter

Well, a calendar is rarely wrong.

For the last two weeks, St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Matthew Liberatore has been lined up as the club's Opening Day starter based spring training schedules. On Wednesday afternoon, the Cardinals proved calendar watchers right by announcing the southpaw as the club's 2026 Opening Day starter.

St. Louis Cardinals announce Matthew Liberatore as their 2026 Opening Day starter.

Matthew Liberatore has gone from a highly-touted prospect in a one-for-one swap to a prospect who wasn't quite living up to his billing to a reliever to a starting pitcher and now to an Opening Day starter. His transformation is now complete, and he'll toe the rubber for the Cardinals come March 26th.

Libby was a full-time starting pitcher last year for the Cardinals, a first for the 26-year-old lefty. He finished the year with an 8-12 record and a 4.21 ERA across 29 starts and 151.2 innings. He struck out 122 batters and posted a 4.03 FIP. He accumulated just one Win Above Replacement and had a 97 ERA+, placing him slightly below average among pitchers.

In three starts this spring, he's thrown 10 innings with a 2.70 ERA while striking out 14 batters, walking just one, and allowing only three runs. He's been very strong so far in limited time down in Florida.

The left-hander worked on improving his repertoire all offseason, adding a new pitch and honing in on his already deep pitch mix. So far this spring, he's thrown a four-seam fastball, a slider, sinker, changeup, curveball, and cutter. His velocity has been right around his career average in limited time, but he's been very effective with all of his offerings.

Matthew Liberatore's appearance on Opening Day will not only kick off the 2026 regular season, but it will be the unofficial kickoff to a new era of Cardinals baseball, one led by homegrown players rather than external additions.

Though Libby wasn't drafted by the Cardinals, he's spent the last six seasons in the Cardinals' organization, three times longer than the time he spent in Tampa Bay's organization.

Liberatore will face off against the team that drafted him, the Tampa Bay Rays, on Opening Day.

The Cardinals have been subtly pushing Matthew Liberatore as a face of this rebuild. He was featured on The Nest earlier this winter. On this YouTube special, fans were able to get an inside look into the southpaw's offseason workouts, how he spends his free time, and the balance behind the grind of a Major League season.

With the announcement of Matthew Liberatore as the club's 2026 Opening Day starter, fans can really start looking forward to the regular season. Matthew Liberatore, now a full-fledged starting pitcher, will get to soak in all of the sights and sounds that come with an Opening Day at Busch Stadium. The stadium will be full, the fans will be loud, and baseball will be back.

Once a top prospect and now an Opening Day starter, Matthew Liberatore's journey as a top-tier starting pitcher is beginning now.