Cardinals Host Marlins Looking to Regain Footing After Rainout Reset

The Cardinal Chronicle
Cardinals Host Marlins Looking to Regain Footing After Rainout Reset
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

The Cardinals did not get a chance to salvage a split against Arizona on Thursday night.

The weather made sure of that.

After the series finale against the Diamondbacks was postponed because of inclement weather, St. Louis turns the page and opens a three-game weekend series against the Miami Marlins on Friday night at Busch Stadium. What was supposed to be Michael McGreevy’s turn against Arizona now slides into the Marlins series, giving the Cardinals a slightly different rotation look as they try to steady themselves after dropping back-to-back games earlier in the week.

That is not the worst thing in the world.

The Cardinals needed a reset. They got one, even if it came with a tarp.

St. Louis enters the series at 42-36 after taking the opener from Arizona, then losing the next two games before Thursday’s finale was washed away and pushed to July 23. The Cardinals remain in the National League Central race, but the last several days have again shown the same truth that has followed this club for most of the season: the offense has enough life to keep them in games, but the pitching staff has to avoid the one inning that wrecks the night.

Now Miami comes to town.

The Marlins enter the weekend at 42-39, right in the same general National League traffic as the Cardinals. This is not a throwaway opponent, and it is not a series St. Louis can casually drift through. Miami has played itself into relevance, and that makes this weekend more than just the next name on the schedule.

Friday’s opener is expected to feature McGreevy for St. Louis against Marlins right-hander Max Meyer. McGreevy had been lined up for Thursday’s postponed game against Arizona, but with the rainout, the Cardinals can roll him into the opener against Miami.

That gives St. Louis one of its steadier arms to begin the weekend.

McGreevy enters at 3-6 with a 3.35 ERA, a 1.15 WHIP and 53 strikeouts. The record is not pretty, but the performance has often been better than the win-loss line suggests. He is not a power-showcase starter. He wins by pitching — changing speeds, working edges, staying composed and letting the defense do its job.

That kind of start would be valuable Friday night.

The Cardinals do not need McGreevy to be spectacular. They need him to be stable. They need length. They need strikes. They need him to keep Miami from building early traffic and forcing St. Louis into another bullpen-heavy game. After a week where late innings and crooked innings both caused problems, a clean opening start would go a long way.

The challenge is Meyer.

Meyer comes in at 8-0 with a 2.80 ERA and 102 strikeouts, giving Miami one of the better arms the Cardinals have seen lately. He has the kind of stuff that can turn impatient at-bats into quick innings, and St. Louis cannot afford to help him by chasing early or trying to do too much. The Cardinals need a mature approach: make him work, get him into the zone, and take advantage when scoring chances appear.

There may not be many.

That makes the early innings important. If the Cardinals can get traffic before Meyer settles in, they can change the shape of the opener. If they let him cruise, it could become a long night of swinging uphill.

The rest of the weekend rotation remains shaped by the postponement. Dustin May and Andre Pallante were both part of the original weekend plan, and with McGreevy sliding into the opener, the Cardinals now have some flexibility in how they line up Saturday and Sunday. May enters at 5-6 with a 4.30 ERA, while Pallante comes in at 9-4 with a 3.59 ERA. Both will matter in this series, whether the club keeps them in order or adjusts around rest, workload and matchups.

May remains the wild card in the rotation in the best and most frustrating way. When he is right, he can look like the stabilizer the Cardinals badly need. His power arsenal gives him a different look from the rest of the staff, and St. Louis has already seen what it looks like when he takes over a game. But the Cardinals also need consistency from him, especially as the schedule pushes toward July and the trade-deadline conversation grows louder.

Pallante, meanwhile, continues to be one of the more important arms on the staff. His record reflects how often he has kept the Cardinals in position to win. He competes, gets ground balls and gives St. Louis a chance when he controls the strike zone. In a series against a Miami club trying to prove it belongs in the National League race, that kind of start can tilt the weekend.

Offensively, the Cardinals need to get back to putting pressure on pitchers early.

Jordan Walker remains the main power threat in the middle of the order, entering the series with 18 home runs and 58 RBIs. His season has continued to move from promise into production, and the Cardinals need him to keep driving the baseball if they are going to survive the uneven nights from the pitching staff.

Alec Burleson continues to be one of the club’s steadier left-handed bats. Iván Herrera’s on-base ability remains central to the lineup when he is available. JJ Wetherholt keeps giving the Cardinals quality at-bats and top-of-the-order energy. Masyn Winn’s glove and spark matter every night. Blaze Jordan has continued to show that his bat can contribute now, not someday.

That young core is still the heartbeat of this season.

But this weekend also needs to be about execution, not just youth.

The Cardinals cannot keep asking the offense to rescue every game. They need cleaner starts, better bullpen finishing and sharper situational at-bats. They have played themselves into meaningful baseball, but meaningful baseball does not allow much waste. The difference between being in the race and staying in the race is often how well a club handles series like this at home.

Miami brings enough danger to make mistakes hurt.

The Marlins are not a club the Cardinals can treat like a breather. They have pitching, they have athleticism, and they have played well enough to arrive in St. Louis with their own postseason hopes still breathing. If the Cardinals hand them free baserunners or waste early scoring chances, Miami is capable of turning this series into another missed opportunity.

That is the part St. Louis has to avoid.

The Cardinals had the Arizona series in a decent place after Monday’s win, then let the next two games get away. The rainout stopped the series, but it did not erase the need for a response. Friday gives them a new opponent, a rested pitching plan and a chance to set the tone for the weekend.

The Cardinals are contenders.

They are also flawed.

Both things can be true.

This series against Miami is another chance to show which side of that sentence carries more weight.

Get the opener. Make Meyer work. Get length from McGreevy. Let the young bats create traffic. Play clean baseball at Busch Stadium.

The rain gave the Cardinals a pause.

Now they need to use it.

Series Info
Matchup: Miami Marlins at St. Louis Cardinals
Dates: Friday, June 26 through Sunday, June 28, 2026
Venue: Busch Stadium, St. Louis
Broadcast: Cardinals.TV / KMOX / WIJR

Friday, June 26
First Pitch: 7:15 p.m. CT
Probable Pitchers: RHP Max Meyer vs. RHP Michael McGreevy
Meyer: 8-0, 2.80 ERA, 102 SO
McGreevy: 3-6, 3.35 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 53 SO

Saturday, June 27
First Pitch: 6:15 p.m. CT
Probable Pitchers: Miami TBA vs. Cardinals TBA
Cardinals rotation note: Dustin May and Andre Pallante are expected to factor into the weekend plan after Thursday’s postponement pushed the rotation back.

Sunday, June 28
First Pitch: 1:15 p.m. CT
Probable Pitchers: Miami TBA vs. Cardinals TBA
Rotation note: The Cardinals’ weekend alignment remains subject to adjustment after the rainout.

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
Preserving the Past, Promoting the Present, and Projecting the Future.

Check out The Cardinal Chronicle for more St. Louis Cardinals coverage, daily farm reports, prospect updates and old-school baseball commentary:
www.cardinalchronicle.com

Photo Credit: Michael McGreevy, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB