Cardinals host the Rays in the season opener

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Tampa Bay Rays vs. St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis; Thursday, 4:15 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Rays: Drew Rasmussen (0-0); Cardinals: Matthew Liberatore (0-0)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Rays -125, Cardinals +105; over/under is 7 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals host the Tampa Bay Rays for the season opener.

St. Louis had a 78-84 record overall and a 44-37 record in home games last season. The Cardinals pitching staff had a collective 4.29 ERA while averaging 7.6 strikeouts per nine innings in the 2025 season.

Tampa Bay had a 77-85 record overall and a 36-45 record in road games last season. The Rays slugged .401 as a team last season with 2.7 extra base hits per game.

INJURIES: Cardinals: Hunter Dobbins: 15-Day IL (knee), Lars Nootbaar: 60-Day IL (heels)

Rays: Steven Wilson: 60-Day IL (back), Edwin Uceta: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Gavin Lux: 10-Day IL (shoulder), Ryan Pepiot: 15-Day IL (hip), Manuel Rodriguez: 60-Day IL (elbow), Taylor Walls: 10-Day IL (oblique)

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.