The NL Central rivalry is revived!
The 2025 St. Louis Cardinals were supposed to be bad.
They finished an abysmal (for them) 20 games under .500 back in 2023, and barely scraped by the .500 mark with an 83 win season in 2024 that still left them on the outside of the playoffs looking in.
They waved goodbye to longtime stalwart 1B Paul Goldschmidt, who signed with the New York Yankees over the winter as a free agent. They fielded calls for 3B Nolan Arenado for most of the offseason, too, as it became clear they were looking to unload the remaining years and dollars left on his contract. Even John Mozeliak, who has helmed the ship in St. Louis since 2007 (and been part of the staff there since 1995) announced he’d be stepping down after 2025, a clear-as-day sign that a rebuild was in the works.
The Cardinals, though, are still somehow the Cardinals, and even their mini-rebuild has them at 40-35 on the season and ahead of the Reds in the NL Central standings.
That’s how things stand as these two clubs renew their rivalry for the first time this season, which they’ll do at Busch Stadium III in St. Louis tonight and through the weekend.
The Reds are riding high just to be within sniffing distance of the Cards in the standings, winners of four straight series despite dropping their series finale to the Minnesota Twins at GABP yesterday. St. Louis, meanwhile, has bounced back to win four of their last five games after being mired in a seven-game losing streak in early June, though their most recent trio of wins all came against the hapless Chicago White Sox.
So, in theory it’s a good time for the Reds to be catching the Cardinals on the diamond. We’ll find out for sure beginning tonight, with a pair of matinee contests remaining on the docket both Saturday and Sunday.
That said, Wade Miley hit the IL this afternoon with a flexor strain in his surgically repaired left arm, and Chase Petty will be recalled to take Miley’s turn in the rotation for Saturday’s game. Hopefully, Petty’s better equipped to take on big league batters this time around than he was in each of his first two appearances. Petty will square off in that one against former Red Sonny Gray, the player for whom he was originally traded back in his early pro days with the Minnesota Twins.
Pitching Matchups
Friday, June 20th (7:15 PM ET): RHP Brady Singer vs. RHP Andre Pallante
Saturday, June 21st (2:15 PM ET): RHP Chase Petty vs. RHP Sonny Gray
Sunday, June 22nd (2:15 PM ET): LHP Andrew Abbott vs. RHP Miles Mikolas
How to Watch
Each of the three games of the series will be broadcast on FanDuel Sports Network. You can watch FDSN in-market through cable packages, though it’s also available to be streamed in-market with no blackout restrictions even without a cable subscription. You can check the link in the above sidebar (which I’ve re-linked right here) for more information on how you can do just that.
Per usual, you can view these final two games from outside the Reds TV market by catching the FDSN stream through MLB.tv.