The St. Louis Cardinals have released their full 162-game schedule for the upcoming 2023 MLB season. After a disappointing 89-73 record in 2022 that saw them fall short of the playoffs, the Cards will look to bounce back next year and return to the postseason.
The Cardinals’ season will kick off on April 6th with their home opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium. They’ll have an early season five-game homestand to start the year against the Pirates before hitting the road for their first road trip. That will take them to Chicago where they’ll play three games against the rival Cubs at Wrigley Field from April 10th-12th.
After returning home for two more games against the Cubs, the Cards will welcome the Milwaukee Brewers for a three-game weekend series from April 21st-23rd. That weekend clash with their NL Central foes will be an early season test. They’ll wrap up April with another homestand versus the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres.
May will see St. Louis begin to play many of their NL rivals more frequently, with series against the Brewers, Cubs, Reds, and Dodgers on the schedule that month. They’ll also welcome the Tampa Bay Rays and Houston Astros for interleague play at Busch. One of the highlight series in May comes when the New York Mets come to town from May 19th-21st for what should be a competitive matchup between two playoff hopeful clubs.
June kicks off with a road trip out west, as the Cards travel to Colorado and Arizona for nine straight games away from home. That tough stretch includes four games against the powerhouse Dodgers. When they return home in mid-June, they’ll play host to the Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, and Cincinnati Reds at Busch Stadium. They’ll wrap up the month with another road trip out east to Philadelphia and Washington.
July will see St. Louis play 16 home games and 15 road games, with series against every team in their division plus the Miami Marlins, Toronto Blue Jays, and Washington Nationals. Two intriguing series on their July schedule happen when they welcome the defending champion Astros July 7th-9th and travel to Chicago to face the Cubs July 21st-23rd. Both weekends could go a long way in deciding the NL Central race.
August features the Cardinals’ annual weekend series against their cross-state rivals, the Royals, in Kansas City from August 4th-6th. They’ll also welcome the red-hot Dodgers and tough Atlanta Braves to town that month. An interesting road trip happens when they travel to Seattle and San Francisco to take on the Mariners and Giants out west from August 22nd-27th. Finishing up the month will be home dates against Milwaukee and Cincinnati.
To wrap up the regular season in September/October, St. Louis has home stands against the Pirates, Reds, Cubs and Reds again while also traveling to Pittsburgh, Chicago and Milwaukee. As has become tradition, their final regular season series will be on the road in Chicago against the Cubs from September 29th-October 1st. That weekend set could prove crucial in deciding playoff seeding for both longtime rivals.
Of course, the Cardinals are hoping to play well into October themselves in 2023. With a strong core of hitters like Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado and Dylan Carlson leading the way, as well as growing pitching talents like Jordan Montgomery and Andre Pallante, St. Louis believes they have the roster to contend next season. It should make for an exciting year of Cardinals baseball as they aim to return to the top of the NL Central standings.
