The Washington Nationals dropped their fifth straight game on Sunday afternoon, including a sweep in the home opening series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now, Blake Butera will look to lead the Nationals to bounce back at Nationals Park starting on Monday evening against the St. Louis Cardinals
Zack Littell will take the mound for his second start as a National when the teams open the series on Monday night. Littell’s debut with the Nationals materialized last Tuesday after he allowed a pair of home runs and three earned runs on six hits in five innings, adding one strikeout along the way, in game two against the Philadelphia Phillies. Andre Pallante is set to take the mound for the Cardinals after not allowing an earned run in his season debut.
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Cade Cavalli will then take the mound for game two with a chance to pick up his first win of the regular season. Cavalli earned the nod as the Nationals starter on Opening Day where he tossed five strikeouts and allowed a pair of earned runs and three hits in 3.2 innings in an eventual 10-4 win. He then followed it up with three strikeouts and one earned run allowed in six innings against the Phillies on April 1, good enough to exit the game with a lead before the Nationals fell, 6-5, in extra innings.
Matthew Liberatore will take the mound for the Cardinals in his second appearance of the season.
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Miles Mikolas is then set to close out the series on Wednesday as he looks to bounce back from two abysmal outings.
Through 9.1 innings, Mikolas has allowed 15 earned runs and 17 hits while tossing just eight strikeouts. The lowlight came in Friday’s home opener against the Dodgers after leaving the game with Washington trailing, 10-4, midway through the fifth inning. Whether the veteran is able to do enough to pick up his first win as a National will be the biggest question mark as Mikolas enters his next start 0-2 with a league-leading 14.46 ERA.
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The Cardinals enter the three game series looking to stay above .500 after winning the first two series to open the 2026 season, taking two of three games against the Tampa Bay Rays then New York Mets. St. Louis pulled out a 5-3 win on Sunday afternoon to end a two-game slide against the Detroit Tigers.
The two teams met for two series during 2025 with the Cardinals winning five of the six games.
