The Cardinals Are Coming to Town — and Miami Needs These Three Games More Than It Knows

There’s a version of this series that doesn’t matter at all. Two teams in the middle of April, both hovering around .500, getting three games in before the real summer grind begins. Cardinal fans will watch on Cardinals.TV from their living rooms in St. Louis. Marlins fans who show up to loanDepot park will have good sightlines and modest expectations.

Here’s the other version: the Miami Marlins are 10-12, having just snapped a four-game losing streak with Sunday’s win over Milwaukee. The Cardinals are 13-8, riding a five-game winning streak that includes a Sunday extra-innings win over Houston — improving their perfect 5-0 extra-inning record. José Fermín was the story of that win. Jordan Walker extended his hitting streak. The Cardinals are doing exactly what Cardinals teams do — playing efficient, close-game, next-man-up baseball with a negative run differential that should mean they’re mediocre and somehow doesn’t.

Strap in or strap on, whichever the case may be — and yes, the roof situation will be noted.

The International Players Coming to Town

Let’s start with the man who SHOULD have represented Team USA. Jordan Walker. 

This is where WBN earns its frame. When people think Cardinals, they think Musial and Gibson and Ozzie and Pujols and the institutional machinery of Cardinals Way. They don’t typically think “international roster.” They should start.

Ivan Herrera — Panama City, Panama (PA) · Catcher

Start here. Ivan Herrera is 25 years old, born in Panama City, and is the most athletically gifted catcher in a three-man Cardinals committee. He has the best arm of the group and the longest tenure in the Cardinals organization — he came up through their minor league system and has been the projected long-term answer at the position since 2022. His presence in the lineup Monday through Wednesday isn’t guaranteed — St. Louis also has Pedro Pages and Yohel Pozo — but when Herrera is behind the plate, this Cardinals team looks different.

For Marlins fans, this is a Panama connection that matters. Leo Jimenez is the Marlins’ Panamanian infielder, a 25-year-old from Chitré who has been the quiet defensive anchor on this roster all season. Panama City and Chitré are having a conversation that most English-language MLB coverage will never mention. We mention it.

There is also a trade context here that WBN has been tracking. Two teams expected to be active at the July deadline are the Cardinals and the Marlins — spring training partners, overlapping front offices, mutual organizational familiarity. The Cardinals have a catching surplus: Pages, Pozo, and Herrera is three catchers too many for one roster. Herrera is the longest-tenured Cardinal prospect in this group, but he also has a history of injuries, has been platooning, and will be arb-eligible in 2027. At 25, coming through the system, with catching depth working against him, Herrera could conceivably be shopped in a way that would surprise people. WBN asked this question directly. The answer, as of this writing, is that the Cardinals’ catching future remains unsettled. Watch this space.

José Fermin — Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic (DO) · 2B/Utility

Fermin is the Cardinals’ Swiss Army knife — second base, outfield, pinch hit, late-inning defense. He’s from Puerto Plata on the north coast of the DR, and he is not a headliner. He’s the player you don’t notice until he’s beaten your team twice in a week. Against a Marlins roster anchored by Dominican players — Alcantara, Eury Perez, Ramirez, Lopez, Hernandez — Fermin is one of six Dominican Republic-born players who could see the field in this series.

Pedro Pages / Yohel Pozo — Venezuela (VE) · Catching Committee

Two Venezuelan catchers from completely different cities. Pages is from Maracay in Aragua state.

Pozo is from Maracaibo, Venezuela’s oil city on the western lake. Both have made the big leagues by catching well and not embarrassing themselves at the plate. Javier Sanoja, the Marlins’ Venezuelan utility man, grew up in a baseball culture that would recognize both names from a young age.

Ramon Urias — Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico (MX) · Utility Infield

The elder statesman at 32, Ramon Urias is the brother of Julio Urias and won the AL Gold Glove at third base in 2022 with Baltimore. He’s now a utility piece for a young Cardinals team. Xavier Edwards, the Marlins’ Mexican-American infielder born in California, is the natural counterpoint. When Urias and Edwards are on the same field, Mexico has two representatives in the same infield.

Lars Nootbaar — El Segundo, CA · On 60-day IL

Won’t play in this series — heel surgery. But his story is exactly the kind WBN was built to cover: born in California, son of a Japanese-American mother, committed to Japan’s WBC squad in 2023 having never played in Japan a single day. He showed up, threw himself into it, and became the American that Japan claimed as its own. He was also, for the record, the least clutch Cardinal in the final four months of their dismal 2025 season. He’ll be back in late May.

Coaching Staff International: Julio Rangel (Panama, assistant pitching coach), Stubby Clapp (Windsor, Ontario, Canada — first base coach, Cardinals lifer, drafted by St. Louis in 1996), Jamie Pogue (Canada, assistant), Kleininger Teran (Venezuela, bullpen catcher). And on the pitching staff: George Soriano — born in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, the city that has produced more major leaguers per capita than anywhere on earth. Soriano is 27, in the Cardinals bullpen, and has a 4.82 ERA that doesn’t tell the whole story of what he can do when he’s right.

How Miami Wins — and How They Lose

The Cardinals’ 21-game data tells a specific story, and Miami needs to understand it before Monday.

The 8th inning is where the Cardinals live. Through 21 games, St. Louis has scored 20 runs in the 8th inning alone — 1.11 runs per game, the highest of any inning. They have scored 38 of their 93 total runs in the 7th inning or later. That’s 40.9 percent of their offense coming after the sixth. This is not a team that jumps on you early. They grind, they stay close, and they strike late. In extra innings they are 5-0 and have scored 1.60 runs per 10th inning.

Miami cannot let this game reach the 8th tied or down one. That is the Cardinals’ kill zone. If Marlins starters hand a one-run lead to the bullpen after six innings, the Cardinals’ late-inning offense will erase it. The formula for a Miami win is: build a two-run lead by the seventh, get to Bruihl or Svanson, and close it before extras.

JJ Wetherholt walked in 14 of 21 games. He has 17 walks in 77 at-bats. He is on base constantly, and he is the engine that sets up the Cardinals’ late-inning production. Miami’s pitchers must not walk him. A Wetherholt walk in the 7th or 8th inning with Jordan Walker due up is a run scoring — the data says so unambiguously.

The Cardinals’ bullpen has two completely different tiers. Riley O’Brien: 0.00 ERA in 12.1 innings, won 3 games. Gordon Graceffo: 0.84 ERA. These are the relievers Miami must avoid — which means Miami cannot let games be close late, because close late is when O’Brien appears.

The other side of the bullpen: Justin Bruihl has a 6.75 ERA with 8 walks in 10.2 innings. Matt Svanson has a 13.50 ERA with 9 walks in 10.2 innings and is genuinely one of the worst relief pitchers currently employed in the National League. Ryne Stanek is at 7.71. If Miami is leading and these are the arms Oli Marmol has to use, the Marlins win.

How Miami loses: Let St. Louis stay within a run through six, give the ball to the bullpen with a slim lead, watch Bruihl or Fairbanks blow it in the 8th, then lose in extras. That is the exact sequence the Cardinals have executed five times this season. It is also the exact sequence the Marlins have been victimized by repeatedly.

The Dustin May variable: May is touching 98 and already using multiple pitches in his fourth start. He chose St. Louis specifically to get innings and develop command. That profile — live arm, inconsistent command, working through a pitch mix — is beatable for a contact-first lineup like Miami’s. The Marlins don’t need power against May. They need first-pitch strikes and contact early in counts before he settles in.

The Standings Argument

On the morning of April 20, the Marlins are 10-12 with 85 percent of the season unwritten. The trade deadline is 105 days away. Competitive baseball in March and April buys May attendance — that’s not a theory, it’s the pattern this franchise has shown repeatedly. The Marlins opened with Opening Day buzz, a Kyle Stowers bobblehead, a post-WBC atmosphere. Then the losing streak hit. The Brewers drew under 12,000 per game.

The Cardinals — Monday through Wednesday, no giveaway, no national broadcast — will test whether Sunday’s win changed the energy or just the scoreboard. The promotional calendar helps eventually: Mexican Heritage Celebration May 2, Star Wars Day May 3, Cuban Heritage Night May 23. But those are May. This is April, and the Cardinals are here now.

For St. Louis, a sweep gives them a two-game lead in the NL Central. For Miami, a series win gets them to .500 and changes the entire tone of the San Francisco road trip that follows.

The Roger Dean Connection

The Marlins and Cardinals share Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter for spring training. Same complex, same extended spring training fields, overlapping front office relationships, and a history of trades between the two organizations. This was supposed to be the series where that familiarity manifested as a competitive mismatch — a rebuilding Cardinals team vs. an ascending Marlins roster. Instead both teams have surprised in opposite directions. The Cardinals are 13-8 with a negative run differential. The Marlins are 10-12 with a roster that looks better on paper than their record. The Jupiter connection is background. The scoreboard is what counts.

The Three Games

Monday, April 20 · 6:40 PM ET · Max Meyer vs. Michael McGreevy

Max Meyer (1-0, 4.12 ERA) is working back from left hip surgery that ended his 2025 season in June. The stuff is there — fastball 95-96, sharp slider — but command is the variable. McGreevy (1-1, 2.49 ERA), 25, from San Clemente, California, has quietly been one of the Cardinals’ best starters through three weeks. His command is excellent, which is exactly the profile that beats strikeout-dependent lineups in a slump.

Tuesday, April 21 · 6:40 PM ET · Chris Paddack vs. Dustin May

Dustin May (2-2, 6.98 ERA) has been inconsistent, which is consistent with his career arc since the Tommy John surgery. Paddack (0-3, 5.59 ERA) has never quite sustained the promise of his 2019 San Diego debut. Both pitchers need this start. This is the most winnable game of the series for Miami — if Paddack is right and May leaks runs early, one evening reverses a month of misery.

This is the pivotal game: May signed with St. Louis on a one-year deal specifically because of the Cardinals’ medical staff — his words — after logging a career-high 132.1 innings split between the Dodgers and Red Sox in 2025, and arrived in Jupiter throwing a fastball near 100 mph with an improved curveball that had Cardinals fans believing he could fill the Sonny Gray vacancy.

Wednesday, April 22 · 12:10 PM ET · Janson Junk vs. Kyle Leahy

The Wednesday day game everyone forgets to watch and someone always wins in a weird way. Junk (0-2, 4.50 ERA) has been Miami’s most frustrating starter — not bad enough to move to the bullpen, not good enough to give the team a cushion. Leahy (2-2, 5.21 ERA) is the same archetype on the Cardinals side. These are the games NL Wild Card races are actually decided in.

Is the Roof Open?

Cardinals fans who make the holy pilgrimage to Jupiter every February are used to watching their team battle the Marlins under the Florida sun at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Will loanDepot park’s roof be open for this series? We’ll let you know as soon as the decision is made — keep the official status link handy: mlb.com/marlins/ballpark/gameday. The roof takes 13-15 minutes to move and costs about $15 in electricity. The decision is made on temperature, humidity, and rain probability.

What a Series Win Looks Like

Two out of three. The Marlins at 12-12 going into San Francisco are a team that’s building something. The Marlins at 10-14 are a different conversation — one that involves whether Peter Bendix makes calls before May, whether Sandy Alcantara’s trade value is being discussed in front offices the way it was in 2025, and whether this team’s ceiling is limited by a bullpen that can’t hold the eighth.

Ivan Herrera, José Fermin, Pedro Pages, and Ramon Urias will walk into loanDepot park Monday carrying the same international pipeline geography as the Marlins’ own roster. That’s not a leverage point in any specific at-bat. It is the frame through which WBN covers this series, and every series the Marlins play this season.

Baseball Without Borders. Three games starting Monday. Marlins.TV, Cardinals.TV, and KMOX 1120 AM if you’re the kind of Cardinals fan who listens to radio at midnight — which, if you’re a Cardinals fan, you absolutely are.

— MT

Series at a Glance

• Mon 4/20 · 6:40 PM ET — Max Meyer (1-0, 4.12) vs. Michael McGreevy (1-1, 2.49) · Marlins.TV / Cardinals.TV / WQAM 560 / WAQI 710 (Spanish) / KMOX 1120 AM
• Tue 4/21 · 6:40 PM ET — Chris Paddack (0-3, 5.59) vs. Dustin May (2-2, 6.98) · Same broadcasts
• Wed 4/22 · 12:10 PM ET — Janson Junk (0-2, 4.50) vs. Kyle Leahy (2-2, 5.21) · Same broadcasts

International Players to Watch

Cardinals: Ivan Herrera (Panama City, Panama), José Fermin (Puerto Plata, DR), Pedro Pages (Maracay, Venezuela), Yohel Pozo (Maracaibo, Venezuela), Ramon Urias (Culiacan, Mexico). Coaching: Julio Rangel (Panama), Stubby Clapp (Canada), Kleininger Teran (Venezuela).

Marlins: Sandy Alcantara (DR, not pitching this series), Eury Perez (DR), Agustín Ramirez (DR), Otto Lopez (DR), Heriberto Hernandez (DR), Liam Hicks (Canada), Owen Caissie (Canada), Leo Jimenez (Panama), Javier Sanoja (Venezuela), Michael Petersen (Great Britain), Xavier Edwards (Mexico/USA dual).

Miami Marlins Files — Full Coverage

Cardinals Coming to Town — Series Preview · Eury Perez Answers the Question — MIL 3, MIA 5 · Woodruff Goes Seven, Sandy Walks Six — MIL 5, MIA 2 · Otto Lopez Homers to Tie It — MIL 7, MIA 5 (10) · Elder Strikes Out Seven — ATL 6, MIA 3 · Dominic Smith Clears the Bases — ATL 6, MIA 5 · Marlins Punch First — MIA 10, ATL 4 · Sandy Flirts With a Maddux — MIA L 6-3 · The Miami Marlins Are Winning. Nobody’s Been Told Yet. · Meet Leo Jimenez, Miami’s Newest Panamanian · Edwards Delivers — MIA 7, NYY 6 · Bullpen Collapse at Yankee Stadium — NYY 9, MIA 7 · Eury Perez Walks Six — NYY 8, MIA 2 · Sandy Throws a Maddux — MIA 10, CHW 0 · Marlins Bounce Back — MIA 9, CHW 2 · Miguel Vargas Left Cuba for This · Caissie Walk-Off Sweep — MIA 3-0 · Alcantara Dominates — Opening Day

Miami Files · Series Preview · World Baseball Network · Baseball Without Borders