It's been a long road to the 2026 Major League Baseball season, but it's finally here.
The New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants will play the first game of the season on Wednesday night. Then, the St. Louis Cardinals, like the rest of the league, will begin play on Thursday. The Cardinals will face off against the Tampa Bay Rays at home at Busch Stadium.
It's a new-look club with plenty of young guys all over the place, including No. 1 prospect JJ Wetherholt. Also, the Cardinals have a new president of baseball operations running the show in Chaim Bloom. He took over after the 2025 season ended and led the club through a transformational offseason that saw Brendan Donovan, Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, and Willson Contreras all get traded.
The theme of 2026 is going to be development and seeing which pieces can step up and become long-term core members of the organization. It's going to be a fun season. With all of that being said, let's get to the three bold predictions for St. Louis.
JJ Wetherholt Will be the 2026 NL Rookie of the Year
Let's start off with the least bold of the three. Wetherholt looked very much like an elite prospect throughout Spring Training and has all of the tools — and opportunity — to make some noise throughout the 2026 season. Wetherholt is the Cardinals' primary second baseman and is going to have every opportunity to succeed. If he can carry over his play from down in the minors in 2025 to the big leagues in 2026, this will be a no-brainer.
Jordan Walker Hits 23-Plus Homers
Walker is still just 23 years old. It seems as though people forget that detail when talking about him. Sure, Spring Training wasn't smooth for him, but he is going to have every opportunity to succeed in 2026. And at 23 years old, he should be nowhere near his peak. Walker hit 16 homers in 117 games played in 2023. He has power and will have opportunity. If he plays 140-plus games, he should be able to reach this mark.
St. Louis Wins More Games Than 2025
This is the boldest take yet. Last year, the Cardinals went 78-84 before trading Donovan, Arenado, Contreras and Gray away. Arguably, there isn't much of a talent drop-off from last year, though. Wetherholt replaces Donovan. Alec Burleson will move to first base and replace Contreras. The rotation arguably is better overall right now than it was, even with Gray gone. And with the way Arenado played last year, Nolan Gorman certainly could at least put up comparable numbers. The rotation and bullpen are steady and the offense arguably could surprise. This is a young group without many expectations. They have already been counted out, but arguably they are fairly comparable talent-wise to the 2025 team.