Breaking Down the Cardinals’ Projected Opening Day Lineup.

The Cardinals’ 2026 regular season is set to kick off on Thursday, March 26th. The official Opening Day roster for the club has been set. There are a couple of surprises about some players being left off the big league roster. However, it has shaped up to be what many expected the roster to be. The only thing in question now is how the Cardinals’ lineup will shape out when the Rays come to town on Thursday.

Breaking Down the Cardinals’ Projected Opening Day Lineup

Projected Lineup

The Cardinals’ lineup will be much younger in 2026 than what fans are used to seeing. The average age of the projected lineup for the club is about 22. With that being said, rolling out this lineup projects the Cardinals at 78 wins for the season. Here is what the team’s Opening Day lineup could look like:

1. JJ Wetherholt (2B)
2. Masyn Winn (SS)
3. Alec Burleson (1B)
4. Ivan Herrera (DH)
5. Nolan Gorman (3B)
6. Jordan Walker (RF)
7. Nathan Church (LF)
8. Pedro Pages (C)
9. Victor Scott II (CF)
10. Matthew Liberatore (SP)

Baby Birds

As mentioned before, the Cardinals will be rolling out a much younger lineup this season. With the club entering a rebuilding stage, that is to be expected. Perhaps the most eye-popping name in the lineup is top prospect JJ Wetherholt. The trade of Brendan Donovan to the Mariners gives Wetherholt a pathway to playing every day. Some may say that inserting him into the leadoff spot may be “rushing him”. However, Wetherholt hasn’t posted an on-base percentage under .405 since he was a senior in high school. He possesses tremendous bat-to-ball skills that most hitters in the projected lineup do not. With a career strikeout percentage of 14.4% in the Minor Leagues, Wetherholt provides speed, contact, and occasional power that most look for out of the leadoff spot.

After Wetherholt, the next potential young stars in the lineup are shortstop Masyn Winn and centerfielder Victor Scott II. Both players have had their fair share of experience at the Major League level, but 2026 will be a season in which the Cardinals heavily rely on the two. Winn is coming off a season in which he hit only .253 with 9 homers and 51 RBIs. However, Winn is coming off a season in which he took home the Gold Glove for NL shortstops in 2025. Scott is coming off a season in which he hit .216 with 5 homers and 37 RBIs. Scott’s strong suit has never really been his bat but rather his speed and defensive ability. Both Winn and Scott will provide solid wheels at the top and the bottom of the lineup. Fans can look for both of them to be stealing more in 2026.

The Muscle

One thing the Cardinals’ lineup in 2026 will lack is the home run ball. Trading guys like Nolan Arenado to Arizona and Willson Contreras to Boston doesn’t exactly help that situation either. Now the Cardinals will be looking to Alec Burleson and Ivan Herrera to do most of the heavy hitting.

Burleson is coming off his best season statistically. In 2025, Burly hit .290 with 18 home runs and 69 RBIs. He also won the NL Silver Slugger Award for utility players. In comparison, Herrera is also coming off his statistically best offensive season as well. He hit .284 with 19 home runs and 66 RBIs. For Herrera, a good part of his 2025 campaign was spent on the injured list. This season, the Cardinals will look to make sure he stays healthy to get a full report on exactly how good Herrera can be at the plate.

Between these two players, they have a combined 72 home runs and 284 RBI’s. However, both Herrera and Burleson are still early in their Major League careers. With a full season’s workload ahead, it is reasonable to believe that both guys are due for a major breakout season. Although the Cardinals as a team will not be among the league leaders in home runs in 2026, Herrera and Burleson are two names to keep an eye on for power numbers during the season.

Prove It Players

The Cardinals’ lineup will also have its share of “prove it players” as well. Perhaps the two biggest names on that list are Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman. Despite both players still being very young, Walker and Gorman have both gotten their shots at the Major League level. In this situation, both were top prospects in the Cardinals organization at one point. They had the same hype around them as Wetherholt does now. Both had solid rookie campaigns, but their numbers have since fallen off. The trades the Cardinals made this winter will ultimately help these two young players, just as they did in Wetherholt’s case. If successful, Walker and Gorman could enter the same conversation with Herrera and Burleson as being “power bats” in the lineup. However, they both have their obvious issues at the plate.

Pressing the Issues

In Gorman’s case, he will have to be better at putting the ball in play. He definitely can be a 30-home run guy for the Cardinals’ lineup, but his strikeout rate is higher than it needs to be. Coming into 2026, Gorman has a strikeout rate of 33.9%. To put that into simpler terms, he is striking out once out of every 3 at-bats. Gorman has had a solid spring with the Cardinals. And now that he will be the everyday third baseman, it will be interesting to see how he adapts to that change over a full 162.

Walker’s case is more complex. He doesn’t have the strikeout problem like Gorman, but what he does have is the inconsistency of putting the ball in the air. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean hitting home runs. That also includes just a simple line drive to a gap. Walker’s ground ball rate coming into 2026 is 49.6%. Almost half of his at-bats, in which he puts the ball in play, end with him hitting it on the ground. A player like Jordan Walker isn’t paid to hit the ball on the ground. Suppose he can start putting the ball in the air more in 2026. Walker could finally have that breakout season the Cardinals have been waiting for.

What to Expect

As mentioned before, this will be a much different Cardinals’ lineup. What should fans expect? It will be interesting to see how the  Cardinals use their different tools to their advantage. For what they lack in power, they make up for in speed. They could bring back the Cardinals of the 1980’s when they trademarked the term “Whitey Ball” after the late great manager Whitey Herzog. Bunting more, stealing more, and other types of small ball will be in play this season. It may not have the same appeal as the home run, but given how this lineup is constructed, the Cardinals’ lineup in 2026 will still be fun to watch.