Cardinals vs. Nationals Game Thread

Baseball is back. Let’s talk about it!

Here’s your starting lineup:

Please don’t make much about this lineup.

Yes, Edman is leading off. I did not look at the Nat’s pitchers, so I would assume that they are starting a lefty today. If so, then fine! Edman is an acceptable leadoff option against southpaws. Against righties, I don’t see how Marmol would look at those players and conclude that Tommy Edman should be the primary leadoff hitter this season. We’ll see if this is just a today thing or if it become a regular thing.

Yes, O’Neill is in center. This is 100% about getting O’Neill some time out there to see what he can do. I personally would have thought that Nootbaar would be the one that should get the first looks, but for today, it’s TON. I pretty firmly believe that, in the end, this is going to be Carlson’s position. He’ll hit well enough and I think he’ll be noticeably the best defender in center this season. If TON ends up playing a lot of center this season, I think his hamstrings will pay the price for it.

DeJong is today’s DH. Which means that we’ll get a first look at his new swing. I’m not going to read anything into this. Even in the prime of his career, DeJong was not consistently as good of a hitter as Juan Yepez was last year. I can’t fathom a scenario where DeJong beats Yepez out of that spot. They want to give DeJong at bats to see if he’s made strides with his swing. That’s it.

Here are your available pitchers: