The St. Louis Cardinals are coming back to Busch Stadium after a tough road trip where the team went 1-5 after starting the season 4-2. The one win was a great offensive performance against ace Paul Skenes, but the overall series in Pittsburgh was a disappointing one that saw opportunities for the Cardinals to head into Thursday’s off day with a little positive momentum.

The return to Busch Stadium will be surely be appreciated by the players but the upcoming six-game home stand sees some tough opponents heading to St. Louis. Starting Friday, the Cardinals (5-7, 3rd in NL Central) will host the Philadelphia Phillies (8-4, T-1st in NL East) who were off to a hot start to the 2025 season, but are coming off their first series loss of the year thanks to an extra-inning loss to the Braves last night.

The Cardinals will be facing some tough arms in the Phillies rotation but their offense was able to get to Skenes for five runs, so they are not likely to back down against the opposing starters. Game one will feature workhorse Aaron Nola (0-2, 6.35 ERA), who has struggled in his two starts, allowing four home runs and eight runs in 11.1 innings. Nola has had the Cardinals’ number in his career with an 8-3 record and a 2.56 ERA in 13 starts. The Cardinals have scored at least two runs in each of Nola’s last three starts against them. Andre Pallante (1-0, 3.86 ERA) will be tasked with quieting the Phillies’ offense and looks to move past a 4.1 inning start in his last outing. This will be Pallante’s first start against Philadelphia but has struggled in his six relief appearances, with an 7.45 ERA which was ballooned by his last outing against them when he did not retire a batter and gave up two runs on three hits and a walk.

The second game will bring lefty Christopher Sanchez (0-0, 4.09 ERA) to the bump opposing veteran Miles Mikolas (0-1, 11.25 ERA) for St. Louis. Sanchez has only faced the Cardinals twice, including one as a starter, but he was good in that start, going six innings and giving up two runs to grab the win. Mikolas has faced the Phillies nine times in his career and is 2-4 with a 4.29 ERA. The Cardinals will need a rebound performance from the righty as he gave up eight runs in 2.1 innings of work in his last outing against the Red Sox.

The series finale will put Cardinal lefty Matthew Liberatore (0-1, 5.84 ERA) up against Zack Wheeler (1-0, 3.44 ERA) who is leading the league in strikeouts early in the season. Liberatore has been undone in both starts by one bad inning and will look to move past those hiccups. In his last start against Pittsburgh, Liberatore worked into the seventh inning and tallied seven strikeouts but his rough third inning ultimately saddled him with the loss. Wheeler, like Nola, has pitched well against St. Louis, with a 2.63 ERA in 8 starts.

NOTES:

• After starting the season 0-for-21, Masyn Winn is 10-for-30 with a homer and four multi-hit games.
• Jordan Walker has two of the eight hardest hit balls tracked by Statcast this year.
• The Cardinals are 1243-987 all-time against the Phillies.
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