Game Day Preview 4/1/25: Cardinals vs. Angels

Cards look to even the series against the Angels

Well, yesterday’s game didn’t go as planned. They hit two early home runs, but otherwise runs were strangely difficult to come by. As soon as someone reached scoring position, the Cardinals’ bats went cold. They also made some unforced errors late in the game to essentially gift wrap the Angels a victory. Hopefully, runs are easier to come by in tonight’s game.

Today’s Matchup – first pitch at 6:45 PM CT

Kyle Hendricks 5.92 ERA/4.98 FIP/4.59 xFIP

vs.

Matthew Liberatore – 4.40 ERA/4.11 FIP/4.17 xFIP

How to watch:

Watch on: FanDuel Sports Midwest

Listen on: KMOX 1120 AM/104.1 FM, WJIR AM 880 (En Espanol)

Players to Watch

STL – Matthew Liberatore: Honestly who else? All eyes are on Liberatore whose starting career has not gone especially well. He has shown flashes of excellence, although not even if he wants to stay in a rotation long-term. The Angels were not great against left-handed pitchers last season, with a 94 wRC+ as a team. But they added Jorge Soler, who has a 131 wRC+ for his career against southpaws. Past his prime, but Tim Anderson is notably better against the opposite hand and Kevin Newman’s mediocrity with the bat against LHP has probably kept him as an MLBer. So you can probably expect something closer to league average from the Angels, barring injuries.

LAA – Jo Adell: Addell was once one of the best prospects in baseball, and he’s already accumulated 3 and half years of service time. Here’s the thing: he’s 25-years-old. I feel like I’ve heard about him forever, because I had, but he’s still young. His projection seems him as roughly a 4th outfielder type. He’s here however, because I am very intrigued by how he looks in CF. Because… his defensive play last year was in RF and apologies to the decision-makers in Angels headquarters – but a +1 in 1,000 innings in RF does not at all suggest he could handle CF. He’s off to a good start, but missed the last two games to a minor injury.