The Cardinals just teased their Opening Day lineup with some surprise shake-ups

Following the St. Louis Cardinals' announcement of the 26-man roster they'll be rocking with on Opening Day, the club is set to take on their Triple-A affiliate, the Memphis Redbirds, in one final tune-up game prior to the regular season starting.

The real news came just a few moments ago when they announced their lineup for this evening's contest, which looks to be what order they'll be going with on Opening Day. The Cardinals actually seem to have gone in a different direction with their offense than many of us were anticipating.

The Cardinals' teased Opening Day lineup is much better than what many of us thought they'd roll with.

Derrick Good shared the lineup on X this afternoon, and the lineup went as follows:

1. LF Lars Nootbaar
2. 1B Willson Contreras
3. 2B Brendan Donovan
4. 3B Nolan Arenado
5. DH Alec Burleson
6. C Ivan Herrera
7. RF Jordan Walker
8. CF Victor Scott II
9. SS Masyn Winn

There are two main "shockers" from this lineup that are worth noting. First is the decision to move Masyn Winn back down to the bottom of the order, which is the right call as things currently stand. While Winn had a strong rookie year, he struggled when moved to the leadoff spot, batting .248/.290/.402 with a 93 wRC+ when he was at the top of their lineup. He was far more comfortable and produced much better numbers at the bottom of the order, and both Lars Nootbaar and Brendan Donovan are more deserving leadoff men at the moment.

Second is the decision to go with Alec Burleson over Nolan Gorman. We'll see if they actually do this on Opening Day, but all offseason John Mozeliak has touted Gorman as a guy they want to see get 600+ plate appearances. Hard to do that when you are not starting!

Look, I'm not bullish on Gorman. I wouldn't be surprised if his struggles in 2024 are a sign of who he'll be going forward. But I was a fan of getting him opportunities this year, at least for some kind of sustained stretch, to see if he can get back to the guy he was in 2022 and 2023. But even so, I have a hard time arguing against Burleson landing in the lineup over him.

Against right-handed pitching last year, Burleson slashed .292/.341/.464, good for an .804 OPS and 125 wRC+. Considering how bad the Cardinals' lineup was last year, it's hard to argue with him being in their starting nine against righties when he produced like that!

We'll see on Thursday if this is truly the lineup they roll with, but if it is, I am a big fan of it.