NL CENTRAL STANDINGS

TeamW-LGBStrk
Cubs21-12-W4
Cardinals20-131.0W6
Reds20-131.0L2
Brewers18-142.5W3
Pirates18-163.5W2

NL WEST STANDINGS

TeamW-LGBStrk
Dodgers20-13-L4
Padres19-130.5L4
D-backs16-163.5L3
Rockies14-206.5L3
Giants13-207.0L5

RECENT RESULTS (LAST 10)

DateOppH/AResult
May 2LADHomeW 3-2
May 1LADHomeW 7-2
Apr 30PITAwayW 10-5
Apr 29PITAwayW 5-4
Apr 28PITAwayW 11-7
Apr 27PITAwayW 4-2
Apr 26SEAHomeL 2-3
Apr 25SEAHomeL 9-11
Apr 24SEAHomeL 2-3
Apr 22MIAAwayL 1-4

STARTING PITCHERS

Cardinals: Dustin May (R) -- 5.28 ERA in 2026

2026 to date: 3-2, 5.28 ERA, 30.2 IP, 22 K, 7 BB, 1.53 WHIP across 6 starts; 16.9% K%, 5.4% BB%, 47.5% GB rate. 2025 baseline: 21.1% K%, 9.6% BB%, 2.20 K/BB across 132.1 IP and 584 BFP. The 2026 K rate sits well below the 2025 line and the WHIP is elevated (1.53), but this is a "home" start at Busch. Game 3 of 3, STL leads the series 2-0.

Dodgers: Justin Wrobleski (L) -- 1.50 ERA in 2026

2026 to date: 4-0, 1.50 ERA, 30.0 IP, 15 K, 9 BB, 0.97 WHIP across 4 starts; 12.6% K%, 7.6% BB%, 41.9% GB rate. 2025 baseline: 27.1% K%, 6.1% BB%, 4.47 K/BB across 66.2 IP and 280 BFP. The 2026 K rate is down sharply from his 2025 line, but the run prevention has been clean. Sample is short (4 starts).

EXPECTED LINEUPS

Cardinals (Projected from 2026-05-02)

#PlayerPosBats2026 RISP AVG2026 RISP OPS
1Wetherholt2BL.240.684
2HerreraDHR.250.805
3Burleson1BL.3811.045
4WalkerRFR.275.900
5Gorman3BL.237.684
6WinnSSR.214.574
7ChurchLFL.235.564
8PagésCR.190.550
9ScottCFL.100.308

Handedness: 4 RHB (Herrera, Walker, Winn, Pagés), 5 LHB (Wetherholt, Burleson, Gorman, Church, Scott).

Dodgers (From active roster)

12 players listed from active roster pool. Actual game lineup will be 9 from this group.

PlayerPosBats
CallLFR
Freeland2BS
PagesCFR
RushingCL
Freeman1BL
KimSSL
TuckerRFL
Muncy3BL
RojasSSR
Espinal3BR
HernándezLFR
SmithCR

Handedness: 6 RHB (Call, Pages, Rojas, Espinal, Hernández, Smith), 5 LHB (Rushing, Freeman, Kim, Tucker, Muncy).

INJURIES & ROSTER NOTES

No injury data was sourced from the JSON. Phase 2 did not perform an injury web search this run -- treat the active rosters listed above as the working set. Confirm scratches at first pitch.

2A: BVP -- CARDINALS BATTERS VS OPPONENT STARTER

PlayerPAABHAVGOBPSLGHRBBK
Pedro Pagés764.667.7141.833210
Masyn Winn763.500.5711.000110
Ivan Herrera540.000.200.000012
Victor Scott640.000.000.000002
Jordan Walker441.250.250.250001
Nolan Gorman220.000.000.000002
Alec Burleson1111.0001.0001.000000

Small sample: Pedro Pagés (7 PA), Masyn Winn (7 PA), Ivan Herrera (5 PA), Victor Scott (6 PA), Jordan Walker (4 PA), Nolan Gorman (2 PA), Alec Burleson (1 PA).

Pages and Winn are the BvP standouts. Pages is 4-for-6 career with 2 HR (.667 / .714 / 1.833) and Winn is 3-for-6 with 1 HR (.500 / .571 / 1.000). Both lines are small samples but the slug is real -- two of the seven career hits Wrobleski has surrendered to this group are home runs to Pages. Wetherholt is in the lineup with no career data on Wrobleski; Church does not appear in the BvP table. The rest of the lineup is .000 or near it -- Scott (0-for-4), Gorman (0-for-2), Herrera (0-for-4 with 2 K).

Bench note: No significant bench BvP history -- Urias, Saggese, Pozo, Fermin all show null career BvP rows against Wrobleski.

2B: BVP -- OPPONENT BATTERS VS CARDINALS STARTER

PlayerPAABHAVGOBPSLGHRBBK
Freddie Freeman541.250.400.500011
Miguel Rojas440.000.000.000001
Kyle Tucker542.500.600.500011
Alex Call330.000.000.000000

Small sample: Freddie Freeman (5 PA), Miguel Rojas (4 PA), Kyle Tucker (5 PA), Alex Call (3 PA).

Tucker is the standout: 2-for-4 career vs May (.500 / .600 / .500) with one walk and one strikeout. Freeman is 1-for-4 with a walk (.250 / .400 / .500). Rojas is 0-for-4 with a strikeout, and Call is 0-for-3 (no walks, no strikeouts). The remainder of the LAD active-roster bats -- Pages, Hernandez, Smith, Muncy, Kim, Rushing, Freeland, Espinal -- have no career BvP rows against May. All four samples are small.

Bench note: No bench BvP history surfaced -- LAD's active-roster bats outside the four listed have not faced May in this dataset.

2C: PLATOON SPLITS -- CARDINALS

PlayerPAAVGOBPSLGHRBBK
Masyn Winn R163.255.313.34921131
Victor Scott L131.204.290.24101136
Alec Burleson L127.271.310.3983720
Ivan Herrera R124.330.455.66091918
Pedro Pagés R113.243.292.3592735
Jordan Walker R107.255.318.3472832
Nolan Gorman L93.220.301.43951025
Nathan Church L14.417.417.500004

Wrobleski is the LHP today and the Cardinals carry 4 RHB and 5 LHB. The 2025 vs LHP table puts Herrera at the top: .330 / .455 / .660 with 9 HR over 124 PA -- the best LHP-line in the lineup. Burleson holds up well as a LHB vs LHP at .271 / .310 / .398 over 127 PA. The exposed bat is Scott, .204 / .290 / .241 over 131 PA -- the lowest AVG and SLG in the table. Walker (.255 / .318 / .347) and Winn (.255 / .313 / .349) are roughly average. Church's 14 PA at .417 is too small to lean on.

2C: PLATOON SPLITS -- OPPONENT

PlayerPAAVGOBPSLGHRBBK
Andy Pages R512.246.290.4452423109
Freddie Freeman L502.288.371.482175494
Teoscar Hernandez R474.245.285.4572325128
Kyle Tucker L423.261.380.453146762
Will Smith R375.305.403.505154976
Alex Call R209.247.374.33512935
Santiago Espinal R202.228.276.24501227
Miguel Rojas R195.244.292.32821131
Max Muncy R176.217.256.4048654
Hyeseong Kim L149.264.304.3572744
Dalton Rushing L115.213.261.3704744
Alex Freeland B81.200.300.3432927

May is the RHP today. The 2025 vs RHP table on the LAD active roster is a top-heavy group: Smith leads at .305 / .403 / .505 over 375 PA, with Tucker .261 / .380 / .453 (423 PA) and Freeman .288 / .371 / .482 (502 PA) close behind. The slug threats are Andy Pages (24 HR over 512 PA, .445 SLG) and Hernandez (23 HR over 474 PA, .457 SLG). The lower-PA bats -- Muncy, Rushing, Freeland -- post lower AVGs (.217, .213, .200) but Muncy still slugs .404 and Rushing .370.

2D: PITCHER PLATOON SPLITS

PitchervsPAAVGOBPSLGOPSHRK
Dustin Mayvs LHB334.261.357.495.7561582
Dustin Mayvs RHB250.256.325.386.642641
Justin Wrobleskivs RHB208.276.322.396.672357
Justin Wrobleskivs LHB92.195.256.317.512325

May runs a standard L/R lean: 2025 vs LHB .261 / .357 / .495 (.756 OPS, 15 HR over 334 PA) is meaningfully worse than vs RHB .256 / .325 / .386 (.642 OPS, 6 HR over 250 PA). The LAD active-roster pool carries 5 LHB (Rushing, Freeman, Kim, Tucker, Muncy), so May is set to face the worse side of his split.

Wrobleski runs a reverse split: 2025 vs LHB .195 / .256 / .317 (.512 OPS over 92 PA) is the better side, while vs RHB .276 / .322 / .396 (.672 OPS over 208 PA) gives more up. The Cardinals' 4 RHB -- Herrera, Walker, Winn, Pages -- are the matchup focus.

2D-HA: PITCHER HOME/AWAY SPLITS

PitcherSplitBFIPERAKBBHR
Dustin MayAway25857.16.28502612
Dustin MayHome32675.03.2473309
Justin WrobleskiAway18445.03.4051143
Justin WrobleskiHome11626.24.393133

Today's game is at Busch Stadium -- functionally "home" for May this season, but his 2025 home/away splits reflect his prior team's environment. 2025 home: 3.24 ERA over 75.0 IP, 326 BFP. 2025 away: 6.28 ERA over 57.1 IP, 258 BFP. The clean home line is the favorable historical anchor; the venue context has shifted.

Wrobleski is the visitor today. 2025 away: 3.40 ERA over 45.0 IP (better split). 2025 home: 4.39 ERA over 26.2 IP. Today's road context aligns with his stronger 2025 split.

2E: TTO SPLITS (TIMES THROUGH ORDER)

PitcherTTOPAAVGSLGOPSHRKBB
Dustin MayTTO1227.226.347.57355623
Dustin MayTTO2220.290.508.79894417
Dustin MayTTO3137.263.517.78072316
Justin WrobleskiTTO1200.254.373.62745911
Justin WrobleskiTTO273.266.375.6411205
Justin WrobleskiTTO327.200.360.560131

May's 2025 first pass through the order is his strength: .226 / .305 / .347 (.573 OPS) over 227 PA. The second pass through the order is the cliff -- .290 / .370 / .508 (.798 OPS) over 220 PA, with 9 HR. The third pass through the order holds at .263 / .365 / .517 (.780 OPS) over 137 PA. Innings 4-6 are the danger window.

Wrobleski's 2025 sample is concentrated in the first pass through the order (200 PA) and thins out: TTO2 73 PA, TTO3 only 27 PA. The TTO3 line of .200 / .222 / .360 (.560 OPS) with 1 K total is too small to lean on -- the working signal is that he rarely sees the third pass through the order.

2F: INHERITED RUNNERS PROFILE

RelieverIRScoredStrand%
Kyle Leahy291162.1%
JoJo Romero26388.5%
Matt Svanson261350.0%
Gordon Graceffo11554.5%
Riley O'Brien10370.0%
Michael McGreevy30100.0%

League average strand rate sits in the 68-72% band. Romero is the elite arm of the bullpen at 88.5% (26 IR, 3 scored). Svanson at 50.0% (26 IR, 13 scored) and Graceffo at 54.5% (11 IR, 5 scored) sit well below league average -- traffic given to either has historically come around. Leahy 62.1% is below average, O'Brien 70.0% is roughly average. McGreevy's 100.0% (3 IR, 0 scored) is a small sample. The fork: which arm enters with runners on decides the middle innings.

2G: BATTED BALL MATCHUP

Pitcher Batted Ball Profiles (Career)

PitcherBIPGB%FB%LD%
Dustin May37244.1%28.2%26.6%
Justin Wrobleski19151.3%20.4%26.2%

Hitter Batted Ball Results (Career) -- LAD

HitterGB AVGLD AVGFB AVG
Alex Call.235.684.141
Santiago Espinal.306.500.048
Alex Freeland.353.600.111
Freddie Freeman.279.667.119
Teoscar Hernandez.222.649.087
Hyeseong Kim.351.586.250
Max Muncy.190.586.143
Andy Pages.258.592.096
Miguel Rojas.239.597.069
Dalton Rushing.267.600.167
Will Smith.362.688.100
Kyle Tucker.185.628.122

May is mildly GB-leaning (44.1% GB / 28.2% FB / 26.6% LD over 372 BIP, career). The LAD bats with the heaviest career line-drive damage are Will Smith (.688 LD AVG), Alex Call (.684), Freeman (.667), Hernandez (.649), and Tucker (.628). Smith and Call also have the best GB AVG of the group (.362, .235 lower-tier respectively -- Smith and Kim .351 are the GB threats), so when May misses up the bats most likely to punish are Smith and Tucker. Tucker's career FB AVG of .122 means he does most damage on liners.

Wrobleski is more GB-leaning (51.3% GB / 20.4% FB / 26.2% LD over 191 BIP, career). The Cardinals' best LD-AVG profile in the JSON's hitter table belongs to LAD bats (this is a one-side hitter sample), but on the Cardinals' side Gorman's 2025 batted-ball profile (30.2% GB / 41.7% FB) is the FB outlier -- against a GB-leaner like Wrobleski, his contact may not stay airborne as often.

2H: BATTERY PAIRING

CatcherGIPERAAVGOBPSLG
Will Smith1156.04.98.255----
Dalton Rushing634.23.89.227----
Carlos Narváez421.04.71.299----
Austin Barnes212.14.38.250----
Connor Wong25.16.75.348----

The catchers above reflect May's prior tenure -- Will Smith (11 G, 56.0 IP, 4.98 ERA), Rushing (6 G, 34.2 IP, 3.89 ERA), Narvaez (4 G, 21.0 IP, 4.71), Barnes (2 G, 12.1 IP, 4.38), and Wong (2 G, 5.1 IP, 6.75) are all from earlier years. None of those catchers are on the Cardinals' active roster. Today's catcher is Pedro Pages, who has 0 career IP with May in this dataset. Fresh battery -- watch for early mistake-call sequences in May's first pass through the order, and watch for hesitancy on the running game.

2I: BASERUNNING MATCHUP

Top LAD speed (career): Tucker 25 SB / 3 CS (89.3%), Pages 14 SB / 7 CS (66.7%), Kim 13 SB / 1 CS (92.9%), Freeman 6 SB / 2 CS (75.0%).

Mid-tier: Rojas 5 / 0 (100%), Hernandez 5 / 2 (71.4%), Espinal 2 / 1 (66.7%), Call 2 / 1 (66.7%).

Low-volume: Smith 2 / 3 (40.0%), Muncy 1 / 1 (50.0%), Freeland 1 / 0 (100%).

Watch: Tucker is the elite threat -- with Pages catching for May for the first time in this dataset, the running game is live. Kim's 92.9% career success rate is the second worry if he reaches.

2J: DEFENSIVE CONTEXT

PlayerPOSGDPEFld%
Victor ScottCF136360.982
Masyn WinnSS1296430.994
Pedro PagésC110650.994
Jordan WalkerRF108240.981
Nolan Gorman3B541160.950
Alec Burleson1B502740.990
Alec BurlesonLF41001.000
Alec BurlesonRF34110.983
Nolan Gorman2B28910.990
Nathan ChurchCF18001.000
Ivan HerreraC14010.989
Nolan Gorman1B7401.000
Nathan ChurchRF7010.833
Victor ScottRF7001.000
Nathan ChurchLF5001.000
Victor ScottLF4001.000
Ivan HerreraLF4001.000
Pedro Pagés1B2101.000
Pedro Pagés2B1001.000
Alec BurlesonP100--

Today's defensive alignment: Wetherholt at 2B (no fielding sample in this dataset), Burleson at 1B, Gorman at 3B, Winn at SS, Walker at RF, Scott at CF, Church at LF, Pages at C, Herrera at DH. Winn (.994 fld%, 64 DP at SS) and Pages (.994 fld% at C) anchor the spine. Walker .981 at RF and Scott .982 at CF are average-to-clean. The weakest infield link is Gorman at 3B: 6 errors over 54 G in 2025 sample for a .950 fld% -- well below the rest of the alignment. With Wrobleski's career 51.3% GB rate, traffic at the corners is in play.

2K: BALLPARK CONTEXT & HEAD-TO-HEAD

Recent head-to-head (regular season): 2025 Cardinals 4-2, 2024 Cardinals 2-5, 2023 Cardinals 3-4, 2022 Cardinals 2-4. The 2025 series flipped a four-year run of LAD edges. STL leads the current 2026 set 2-0 entering today.

Ballpark: Busch Stadium plays as a pitcher-leaning venue historically. Specific 2025 park-factor numbers are not in the JSON; treat the venue as neutral-to-slightly-pitcher.

2L: BATTER K%/BB% PROFILE

Cardinals

PlayerPAKK%BBBB%
Alec Burleson5447914.5%397.2%
Masyn Winn53710219.0%346.3%
Victor Scott46311124.0%429.1%
Ivan Herrera4508418.7%439.6%
Nolan Gorman40213633.8%4711.7%
Jordan Walker39612631.8%297.3%
Pedro Pagés38910727.5%194.9%
Nathan Church651827.7%34.6%

2025 K%/BB% scope. Burleson (14.5% 2025 K%, 7.2% 2025 BB%) is the contact anchor. Gorman 33.8%, Walker 31.8%, Pagés 27.5%, Church 27.7% are the high-K bats. Pagés 4.9% 2025 BB% and Church 4.6% are the lowest walk rates -- the eighth and seventh spots will not extend at-bats.

Dodgers

PlayerPAKK%BBBB%
Freddie Freeman62712820.4%609.6%
Andy Pages62413521.6%294.6%
Kyle Tucker5958814.8%8714.6%
Teoscar Hernandez54513424.6%264.8%
Will Smith4368920.4%6414.7%
Santiago Espinal3283811.6%216.4%
Alex Call3225517.1%3611.2%
Miguel Rojas3174614.5%247.6%
Max Muncy2206830.9%104.5%
Hyeseong Kim1705230.6%74.1%
Dalton Rushing1555837.4%106.5%
Alex Freeland973536.1%1111.3%

2025 K%/BB% scope. Tucker (14.6% 2025 BB%) and Smith (14.7% 2025 BB%) are the elite-discipline bats -- both walk at premium rates. The K% extremes are Rushing 37.4%, Freeland 36.1%, Muncy 30.9%, Kim 30.6% (all in the lower-PA tier of the table). The chase-prone names are Pages (4.6% 2025 BB%), Hernandez (4.8%), Muncy (4.5%), and Kim (4.1%) -- the lower walk rates show up alongside the higher K rates. Espinal at 11.6% K% is the contact outlier.

2M: BATTER BATTED BALL PROFILE

Cardinals

PlayerBIPGB%FB%LD%
Alec Burleson39842.0%33.4%24.6%
Masyn Winn37639.6%34.0%26.3%
Ivan Herrera28552.6%21.8%25.6%
Victor Scott25940.2%32.0%27.8%
Pedro Pagés24344.9%30.9%24.3%
Jordan Walker23148.9%29.4%21.6%
Nolan Gorman19930.2%41.7%28.1%
Nathan Church3767.6%21.6%10.8%

2025 batted-ball scope. Gorman is the FB outlier at 30.2% 2025 GB% / 41.7% 2025 FB% over 199 BIP -- the only Cardinal swinging a clear FB profile. Herrera 52.6% GB and Walker 48.9% GB are the ground-ball leaners. Church's 67.6% GB is a small-sample (37 BIP). Burleson, Winn, Scott, and Pages cluster near average.

Dodgers

PlayerBIPGB%FB%LD%
Andy Pages45938.8%34.0%27.2%
Freddie Freeman45543.3%29.7%27.0%
Kyle Tucker41236.7%35.9%27.4%
Teoscar Hernandez39650.0%26.3%23.7%
Will Smith29535.6%37.3%27.1%
Santiago Espinal25942.9%32.4%24.7%
Miguel Rojas24745.7%29.1%25.1%
Alex Call21944.7%29.2%26.0%
Max Muncy12749.6%27.6%22.8%
Hyeseong Kim10653.8%18.9%27.4%
Dalton Rushing8037.5%37.5%25.0%
Alex Freeland4537.8%40.0%22.2%

2025 batted-ball scope. Hernandez (50.0% 2025 GB%) and Kim (53.8%) are the GB-leaners -- their contact stays on the ground vs May's 44.1% career GB rate. Freeland (40.0% 2025 FB%), Smith (37.3%), Rushing (37.5%), and Tucker (35.9%) are the FB-leaning bats. Tucker's near-balanced 36.7% / 35.9% / 27.4% with a career .628 LD AVG marks him as the most all-fields threat.

2N: PITCHER K%/BB% PROFILE

PitcherIPKK%BBBB%K/BB
Dustin May132.112321.1%569.6%2.20
Justin Wrobleski66.27627.1%176.1%4.47

May -- 2026 to date: 16.9% K%, 5.4% BB%, 5.28 ERA. 2025 baseline: 21.1% K%, 9.6% BB%, 2.20 K/BB ratio over 132.1 IP. The 2026 K rate sits below the 2025 line; the BB rate is improved.

Wrobleski -- 2026 to date: 12.6% K%, 7.6% BB%, 1.50 ERA. 2025 baseline: 27.1% K%, 6.1% BB%, 4.47 K/BB ratio over 66.2 IP. The 2026 K rate is well below his 2025 line; the BB rate is mildly worse. The 1.50 ERA is doing the work without the strikeouts so far.

KEY MATCHUPS & WATCHLIST

Pages vs Wrobleski. 4-for-6 career with 2 HR (.667 / .714 / 1.833) -- the only Cardinal with PA size and slug damage on Wrobleski. Pages also fits Wrobleski's reverse split as a RHB (Wrobleski 2025 vs RHB .276 / .322 / .396 over 208 PA). Eighth-spot bat carrying the matchup edge.

Tucker vs May. 2-for-4 career (.500 AVG, .500 SLG) with one walk and one strikeout. Tucker also leads the LAD active-roster pool in 2025 BB% (14.6%) and is the lineup's best on-base bat vs RHP (.380 OBP over 423 PA). Career baserunning 25 SB / 3 CS (89.3%) makes him the threat at every level.

Herrera vs LHP. 2025 platoon line .330 / .455 / .660 with 9 HR over 124 PA -- the cleanest LHP-line in the Cardinals' lineup. Hits second from the DH spot, immediately behind Wetherholt and ahead of Burleson. With Wrobleski's reverse split keying on RHB, Herrera is the focal RHB.

Situational edges. May's 2025 second pass through the order (.290 / .370 / .508 over 220 PA) is the cliff -- innings 4-6. Cardinals bullpen fork: Romero 88.5% IR strand vs Svanson 50.0%. Pages-May fresh battery (0 IP together in this dataset) opens a window for Tucker on the bases.

X-factor. Wrobleski's 2026 K rate (12.6% K%) is well below his 2025 baseline (27.1% K%), but the run prevention has held -- 1.50 ERA across 4 starts. If the contact catches up to him today, the Cardinals' 4 RHB are the bats most likely to do the catching.

QUICK REFERENCE -- IN-GAME QUERIES

1. How has Pedro Pages performed against Justin Wrobleski in their career?

2. How has Dustin May fared against Kyle Tucker in their career?

3. How has JoJo Romero performed against Freddie Freeman in their career?

4. What are Dustin May's third-time-through-the-order splits in 2025?

5. What are Ivan Herrera's splits vs LHP in 2025?

6. How often does JoJo Romero strand inherited runners in 2025?

7. What is the home run park factor at Busch Stadium in 2025?

700 CLARK -- POWERED BY BASES.CHAT | HISTORICAL DATA THROUGH 2025