{"id":120380,"date":"2026-04-30T20:10:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T00:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=120380"},"modified":"2026-04-30T20:10:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T00:10:01","slug":"may-is-a-big-month-for-the-st-louis-cardinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/04\/30\/may-is-a-big-month-for-the-st-louis-cardinals\/","title":{"rendered":"May is a Big Month for the St. Louis Cardinals"},"content":{"rendered":"

The St. Louis Cardinals<\/a> have had a successful season so far. Entering the season with little expectations, the Cardinals have managed to play competitive baseball. Rarely is there a game where it feels like the Cardinals are out of it. While April has been a positive start to the season, May will bring a different set of challenges, one that could make or break the Cardinals’ season.<\/p>\n

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May is a Big Month for the Cardinals<\/h2>\n

The Cardinals will play seven series in May<\/a> against teams with playoff aspirations. This is a big difference from April, when they played around 5 series against playoff hopefuls (depending on how you view some teams). Regardless, May will feature a heavier workload. We are going to look at each series in May to paint a picture of the tough task the Cards face.<\/p>\n

May 1-3 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a><\/h3>\n

The two-time defending World Series Champions are never an easy task. The Cardinals open May against this powerhouse team. The only consolation is that the series is at Busch Stadium, but even that is small. The Dodgers are just that good.<\/p>\n

Reasonable expectation: Dodgers take two of three.<\/em><\/p>\n

May record: 1-2<\/em><\/p>\n

May 4-6 vs. Milwaukee Brewers<\/a><\/h3>\n

The Brewers currently sit near the bottom<\/a> of the National League Central, but that is a testament to how strong the division has started the season. The Brewers have won the division three seasons in a row, and they are not about to go away anytime soon.<\/p>\n

While the Brewers will be a tough opponent like the Dodgers, they do not have the Dodgers’ firepower. As such, the Cardinals should be able to put on a good showing in front of the Busch Stadium III faithful.<\/p>\n

Reasonable expectation: Cardinals take two of three.<\/em><\/p>\n

May record: 3-3<\/em><\/p>\n

May 7-10 at San Diego Padres<\/a><\/h3>\n

The Padres are off to a strong start under first-year manager Craig Stammen<\/a>. They are a team hoping to make the playoffs and make some noise once they get there. A four-game set in San Diego will be a tough challenge. If the Cardinals can split, they will feel good about things.<\/p>\n

Reasonable expectation: Series split.<\/em><\/p>\n

May record: 5-5<\/em><\/p>\n

May 12-14 at Athletics<\/a><\/h3>\n

The Athletics are making some noise in the American League West. While the division is unperforming at the moment, the Athletics have a decent amount of talent on their roster. They do not blow anyone away and will likely fall back in the standings once their division foes heat up, but they will still play a hard nine innings regardless.<\/p>\n

The Cardinals are similar to the Athletics. A team with low expectations but playing well with talent on the roster. The Cardinals should be able to walk out of Sacramento with a series victory.<\/p>\n

Reasonable expectation: Cardinals take two of three.<\/em><\/p>\n

May record: 7-5<\/em><\/p>\n

May 15-17 vs. Kansas City Royals<\/a><\/h3>\n

The I-70 Series returns to St. Louis! This is always a fun series, although Royals fans like to talk about the 1985 World Series, which is not a fun topic for Cardinal Nation.<\/p>\n

The Royals are in the cellar of the division at the moment, but they should start playing better. They are a team with serious playoff aspirations who should be able to turn it around soon. This May 15-17 weekend may be an opportunity to do that if they have not done so sooner.<\/p>\n

Reasonable expectation: Royals take two of three.<\/em><\/p>\n

May record: 8-7<\/em><\/p>\n

May 19-21 vs. Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a><\/h3>\n

The Cardinals will face the Pirates for the second time this season after sweeping them in Pittsburgh in the final days of April. We do not want to get greedy, but this could be another sweep for the Cards. Even if Paul Skenes<\/a> takes the mound for the Pirates, the Cardinals have had success against him.<\/p>\n

Reasonable expectation: Cardinals sweep the series.<\/em><\/p>\n

May record: 11-7<\/em><\/p>\n

May 22-24 at Cincinnati Reds<\/a><\/h3>\n

The Reds currently sit atop the Central Division. They have had a great start to the season. There is talent in their lineup, rotation, and bullpen. Led by a future Hall of Fame manager in Terry Francona<\/a>, the Reds will be a serious threat this season.<\/p>\n

As such, we think the Cardinals have trouble up in Ohio. The Cardinals are a competitive team, but we think the Reds bust out the brooms in this series.<\/p>\n

Reasonable expectation: Reds sweep the series.<\/em><\/p>\n

May record: 11-10<\/em><\/p>\n

May 25-27 at Milwaukee Brewers<\/h3>\n

The Cardinals took two of three earlier in the month. What happens this time?<\/p>\n

Well, the Brewers get a little revenge and win the series.<\/p>\n

Reasonable expectation: Brewers win two of three.<\/em><\/p>\n

May record: 12-12<\/em><\/p>\n

May 29-31 vs. Chicago Cubs<\/a><\/h3>\n

One of the best rivalries in baseball has its first matchup of 2026. The Cubs are neck-and-neck with the Reds for first place, a surprise to no one that they are in the hunt.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Cardinal Nation, we think the Cubs take round one with the Cardinals. It will be a tough way for Cards’ fans to start the summer, but the Cubs are a very good team this season.<\/p>\n

Reasonable expectation: Cubs take two of three.<\/em><\/p>\n

May record: 13-14<\/em><\/p>\n

What Would a 13-14 Month Tell Us?<\/h3>\n

Realistically, a 13-14 month period would tell us nothing we did not already know. The Cardinals should play competitive baseball in May, but they will struggle against teams poised to contend this season. However, a 13-14 record for a rebuilding team in a month that includes games against the Dodgers, Padres, Reds, and Cubs is not awful. It will not earn a parade in downtown St. Louis, but it will at least make for an interesting watch.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: Charles LeClaire- Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The St. Louis Cardinals have had a successful season so far. Entering the season with little expectations, the Cardinals have managed to play competitive baseball. Rarely is there a game where it feels like the Cardinals are out of it. While April has been a positive start to the season, May will bring a different […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3464,"featured_media":121045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25,1071],"tags":[3504],"class_list":["post-120380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardinals","category-mlb","tag-schedule"],"modified_by":"Andrew Willis","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3464"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120380"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121049,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120380\/revisions\/121049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}